the other day i ran into one of my neighborhood kids out in the driveway and i wanted to ask 'hey was that you that did that run thing last week? how did that go?"
but she's one of the black kids and i didn't want to look like that lame-assed white lady who can't tell the difference between one black kid and another.
the truth is that i can't tell the difference between the white kids, either.
i wouldn't have hesitated to say it to a white kid and have the kid say, no, that was someone else.
to me they're all "that kid with the nice bike" or" those kids with the basketballs" or "that kid who never wears a helmet on his scooter"
without his scooter, i have no idea who he is. likewise the kid with the nice bike. if he's ON the bike, i know which kid he is. even if he's on some other kid's bike i can sometimes pick him out because he is the best rider in the neighborhood.
i can figure out pretty quick which kids are black and which ones are white because that's a pretty obvious visual indicator (my neighborhood has no light brown people) and if you line 'em all up i can sort 'em by height.
but pretty much they all look like kids to me.
i also can't identify by sight any of the grownups in my neighborhood, either. some of their cars, i recognize. my neighbor with the back problems, i know by his walk. motorcycle guy is only recognizable to me when he is with his motorcycle. the people with the aged german shepherd? i have no idea what they themselves look like, unless they're with their dog.
but i didn't want to say "oh. must have been some other kid."
*blink*
you all look alike.
how could i explain?
without sounding really lame?
1 comment:
:-)
Post a Comment