{{ Yours Truly }}: “Everything seems amazing when you see the view in rose coloured glasses”

A concept that is easy to comprehend is a ‘crystal clear concept’. Any glass object that is pleasing to the eye, is considered Crystal clear. A person who has a crystal clear personality is considered to be shallow.

I find that word quite icky to be honest. Coming across someone who's personality, or first impression screams, SHALLOW-ALERT, can sometimes be like dark clouds before rain. If you have a full on interaction with them that is. Some human beings are shallow, but nice to your face, while some are just plain shallow! Mind you, I’m not a critic against really shallow people because most of the time they walk into your life and since they are too caught up with themselves to impact you, they walk right out. Then all that is left is a bit of hurt feelings that soon fade. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. A lot of the times our contact with such people makes too big of an impact to just disappear like dust on a window sill. We all remember that one kid from third grade who would ask you to share your pack of the 64 Crayola crayons, but heaven forbid they ever share anything with you. And when we complain to our parents about the shallow eight year old class mate, they ignore our complaints thinking, ‘They’re kids. They’ll learn’. Frankly, they are right, back then we were just kids, and as we grow we learn from our mistakes. But sadly enough, there are people in the world who never learned to share their crayons. Now you see them sitting around in offices, hospitals, factories, schools spinning around in their cozy Italian leather chairs or walking with their heads in the clouds. But it’s even worse knowing that they are the ones who you are supposed to turn to for help sometimes. They have that high position and when you’re confused about something you’re told to go see him/her in the office and “surely they will help you”.

That’s what I was told. “Honey! Why don’t you go and make an appointment at the office with Mrs. F and I’m sure she’ll be able to help you with your course changes for second semester.” It sounded nice when the receptionist at the head office said it. Her words sounded sweet, she smiled with assurance and I trusted her words without giving it a second thought. My appointment was set for 2:30 pm which clashed with the meeting at the mosque I had to attend. I decided to stay for this appointment instead of going to mosque. [Now I know what you’re thinking. I should’ve rescheduled this appointment and went to mosque. Don’t worry, that will turn around to bite me. Just watch] I sat in the waiting room for half an hour, until Mrs. F finally popped her head out her office door and said, ‘You’re going to have to wait another five minutes or so, I just need to grab a snack’. Her words had the taste of a nasty ol’ medicine you sometimes have no choice but to drink, and you’re left with that awful taste in your mouth for hours. I pushed mosque off my agenda for this.

Another 15 minutes later after she had finished having her ‘snack’, she finally invited me into her office. I put aside my thoughts about her rude behaviour she greeted me with earlier, and walked in. A cozy warm room surrounded by little inspiration stones, and some 3x5 cards in a tiny cream coloured box. The 3x5 cards were like those images posted below, they are meant to motivate and stretch a smile across a person’s face. There was a little Christmas tree hiding in the far corner of her desk, yet lighting up the whole room with the pretty lights and decors. When I glanced up to look at her computer screen there was a picture of a child and an old lady both sitting in their embrace and looking very content. All in all, the room had a very warm and welcoming feel to it. A feeling that would make you smile when you looked around and read the little words of wisdom that surrounded you. It was very non-shallow like. The appointment did not last very long. We talked about switching classes around and making sure I met the graduation requirements, she subtly ended the appointment with, “Done! The new schedule should be coming out of of the printer. You can pick it up on your way out.”, she spoke as she rushed me out of her room.

She needed to make an emergency call to the hospital to see how her nephew’s surgery went.
She had to go the bathroom really bad.
She had to make a private call home to check up on her sick husband.
She had a dentist appointment to get to, which she was running late for.

I kept trying to come up with scenarios that would justify her blunt and rude behaviour but my attempts kept failing. Not because I was totally furious with her behaviour, and the fact that I waited forty minutes outside her office and neglected mosque, just to have her click a few buttons on her computer screen and chase me off with a newly printed schedule the printer threw up in my face. That was partly the reason I was upset, but there was something that bothered me a hundred times more. Those 3x5 cards, the inspiration stones, the picture on her computer screen, and pretty much the whole room. Those words and pictures of motivation, wisdom, and enlightenment that would normally offer feelings of warmth and encouragement, seemed translucent as a window pane. On my way out of the office, I wondered how much of that room actually belonged to her. She might as well have been a guest in her own office. How many of those sayings of wisdom and encouragement did she truly believe in? Is that what people do now? Let somebody else’s words do the work, so you wouldn’t have to take that extra step. Along with ‘Shalow-alert’ her personality screamed ‘Fake-alert’ as well. The way she spoke to me when we first interacted, and later when I saw her room seemed like two opposite ends clashing with one another. A person that is so vague and empty, can make a beautiful cosy room just as vague. A room full of items and decorations that offer warmth can become ice cold depending on the person it belongs to.

As kids we learn that a beautifully wrapped toy staged on a shelf at a store can look pleasing enough to force us into encouraging and begging our parents into buying it. However, once the toy is unwrapped and seen at closely it can turn out to be a total piece of junk. Sadly, we see that the same concept can apply to humans as well.

"What is with the son of Adam and Pride?! His beginning is a sperm and his end is a carcass. He cannot sustain himself nor can he repel death."