You Do, And You Will Clean It Up

A song came on the radio tonight that reminded me of this guy I used to know. He was taking voice lessons from some completely unqualified voice teacher and ended up learning how to sing the lamest pop song out there. So tonight, during the four minutes it took for the song to whine its way into my ears, I flashed through scene after scene of our interactions. And the feeling over all was...well not great. Yep. I can't think of this guy now without shaking my head and remembering that crazy place he was in at the time. His life wasn't exactly going like he planned and he was like a cat in the water, floundering around and taking down anyone who got very close to him. I happened to be in the water at the time too and all the splashing made it really hard for me to breathe. Plus he was incessantly clubbing himself and everyone else with his insecurities trying anything to make himself feel more worthy. It was a recipe for disaster.

I've since lost track of this guy. He wandered off into some other cult-like self-help group and I haven't really seen him since then. But thinking about him makes me wonder if I've left people out there who would roll their eyes when they think about me. I've done my share of floundering and I wonder if I've inadvertently splashed people and never cleaned it up. I probably have; and I wish I could go back to them with a big towel and maybe some ice cream or something that would make them feel better. Or at least make me feel better.