as the world turns

i have been realizing this summer how interestingly the things and people in your life that maybe were part of your life for a long time can take on different forms as you grow…

for example, downtown—when i was a middle-schooler i thought i was so chill when i would go down there and go into the 3 story nike towns and 8 story sports authority looking for aback-seven bearings for my rollerblades. when i entered high school i thought i was so cool and mature visiting my MBI college friends… funny how MBI and cool went together in my mind :). then when my college friends graduated i thought it was sweet to be able to take my suburbanite friends into the city and somewhat know my way around. then again, when I went to college, i thought it was nice to be able to bring out my rural college and camp friends into the city. now the city looks so much different to me. it’s a lot less about me and my image and more about the people i’m amongst. now the streets don’t look the same, the L-stops don’t look the same, the homeless don’t look the same, a visit to the loop—not the same.

in a way i’ve lost my innocence. in a way i’m glad because so much of that innocence was also coupled with ignorance. i’m learning that homelessness has a lot more to do with the broken family than the broke pocket. i’m seeing that for some, there is no such thing as a second chance—i can get away with things while many others cannot. i’m starting to understand what it means to want something more for someone than they want it for themselves.