Some years ago, I used to see a black man walking alone every morning at exactly the same time. (I would be politically correct to say African American, except, I didn’t know whether he was American.) He appeared to be in his fifties (kind of old to me at the time) and was always well groomed and well dressed. He walked with a certain self assurance and pride, and always held his head high and walked swiftly with a kind of a swagger. Something about this man irritated me but I could not put my finger on it. I think I saw him as a pompous snob. Every time I saw him I would think, “This man really thinks he is something.”

One morning as I was slowing for a traffic light in the city, I spotted a man walking up a steep sidewalk who sort of resembled this snob. Unlike the snob, this man was walking slowly with his head hanging down and seemed to be very insecure. As he approached closer, I was shocked to see who it was…it was him, the snob!!

When he stopped for the crosswalk light, it was then that I saw a broken old man with what seemed to be tears in his eyes…it was then that I saw a real human being with real emotions. I was stunned and hurt – hurt for him, and disappointed with myself that I formed a bad opinion about a man I didn’t even know.

After that moment, I found myself wanting to talk to him, but my gut feeling was it would never happen. My curiosity ran wild. What horrible thing hurt this man? What destroyed his confidence? What nasty fate fell upon him? What was in this man’s mind that seemed to have crippled him? I probably will never know the answers, but my eyes were opened. I found myself realizing that I may have been unfair to him, and to myself. I began wondering whether a pompous snob could be such a real, down-to-earth and emotional person. Even if this man was a pompous snob, I discovered he had a soul and could hurt the same as any of us. Maybe he and I were not so different after all.

I never saw this man again after that morning. I will never know what happened to him…but my hunch is it was not good.