23 December 2008

Moved

One of the big bosses had what-I-assume-was his 6+ foot tall, adult, developmentally disabled son in the office as I arrived this morning. There's something about the smile of an innocent adult that disarms you. I felt the strongest urge to talk to him and (with honestly no condescending disrespect) to help him out. The faces of the rest of us at work, even when smiling, hide a certain strain, and most of the time don't even hide it. The faces of children often include a bemused uncertainty; I seldom see innocence but instead, simply, pre-adultdom. This person had an unaffected smile with the unfocused, tired eyes of casual vulnerability. Anyway, he looked pretty happy that it was Christmas and that he got to hang out in the office.

[ posted by sstrader on 23 December 2008 at 8:03:35 PM in Personal ]