As almost every day, I was standing in front of the traffic lights in my car. Hitting a red light is fine as you get some distraction in return. Sometimes it is a clown juggling balls, sometimes it is a proud mother showing her baby to everyone and sometimes it is a man who is dressed up as a bum. Just like the day before, it was the beggar gentleman shift. There we were, same place, same time. Date time. He started to walk in my direction. My heart started racing. I was curious, would he recognise me? That is of course the spontaneous reaction of a millenial, the “I am special and the whole world revolves around me.”-attitude.
In these stop light situations, you have two kinds of people I noticed: normal people and people with stiff necks. Normal people, they tend to shake their heads while waving their hands when the poor guy approaches. If you reach a certain level of coolness, you are probably leaning with your wrist on the steering wheel and then you raise your fingers. Sometimes, a generous fake smile as free giveaway is added by pursing your lips together for a second. Normal people also tend to say “No, thank you”. Even though the homeless person will never be able to hear what you said. Luckily, this man has a degree in lip reading because he continued his way. Sadly, I do not think he recognised me.
I checked out the car behind me in the rearview mirror to see how the driver would react. I will not reveal the gender of the driver as it is not important but she was a millenial as well. When Mr. Bum stopped next to her window, I could see she was trying hard to make eye contact. Her jaws were clenched, a vein popped out of her forehead but if you have a stiff neck, it is hard to turn your head. Aaargh, stupid stiff neck. Props for the effort though, she was very focused, holding her breath and not blinking at all. Fortunately, her neck got less stiff when the homeless individual walked by.
Stiff necks are a pain in the ass. You are unable to notice other people, acknowledge their existence, treat them as human beings. A lot of people on public transport, on the streets and in elevators for example have stiff necks. It is a pity because that stiff neck problem is hindering a friendly nod or smile, a short moment of connection between strangers.
Does anyone know a good physiotherapist?
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