Jogging around the park the other day I passed a man running in the opposite direction wearing a pair of sunglasses with one of the lenses missing. After an initial reaction of something along the lines of "what a jackass" I soon deduced that they must've fallen off his face while jogging, broke, and rather than throwing them away or carrying them for the rest of his jog, he decided to simply put them back on, awkward appearance be damned. Any inclinations of judgement I may have harbored quickly subsided and were replaced with admiration and respect.
Here was a guy who didn't give a shit what other people thought. If he looked like a crazy person running around the park wearing half a pair of sunglasses then so be it. He paid good money for those sunglasses. They could be fixed. Sure, he could have carried them for the rest of his run rather than wear them but that would have affected his form, created unnecessary drag, altered his stride, and thereby impeded his attack of the upcoming hill. He would rather look a little odd than compromise his run, his exercise, his body. A truer competitor I had not seen on this jogging path.
Here I am worrying about whether I'm breathing too hard and the other runners notice. Am I swinging my arms to spastically? Is my ass crack showing? Is it OK if I spit? I then realize that I'm the one that's the fool running in large circles, not my unispectacled friend.
Yes, I could learn a lot from Mr. Sunglass.
A couple days later I saw him jogging around the park again. He was wearing the same broken sunglasses.
Turns out he is a jackass.
zeroth life lesson: when it comes to judging individuals in terms of douchebaggery the first inclinations is usually the correct one.
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