One story my dad once told me: back in the days of the Korean War (I'm giving my age away here) he was in the navy, stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, which is where I spent the first two years of my little life. On our flight back to the US, where we were going to settle for good, we were on some sort of plane that had benches running down the sides of the plane.
On the bench facing us was some poor fellow who'd had an operation that basically left him with a hole in his throat. My dad said I stared at the guy all the way from Panama to Texas and they could not make me stop. I suppose I still owe the poor guy an apology, but I've never wanted to go around looking for some guy with a hole in his throat.
On another note, not too long ago I was waiting in the queue in the supermarket. There was a little boy there, perhaps 5 or 6 years old, who was pushing a doll buggy. Besides two of the cashiers, there were a couple of female customers there, and I paid close attention to see if any of these women would have anything negative to say to a boy with a doll buggy. Not a one of them did. No big deal as far as they were concerned.
At one point, I noted that the boy was studying me very closely. It made me wonder if he was reading me. Also made me wonder if he might consider me a good role model. I really wished I could know what was going on in his mind.
