Conquering Obstacles (Part 34--The Awakening)

When my cousin Bill returned from his tour in Vietnam, he and Rita threw a huge party for all of his friends. Among them was a fellow named Lyle who I recognized as one of my classmates from high school. Within seconds he was sitting beside me striking up a conversation about who knows what. I was only half-listening and would  just give him an occasional nod because I was more interested in who was walking through the door.

I stopped in my tracks! "What did you just say?"

"Oh, so you were listening to me. I said that I was in class that day that Ken slapped you."

"That was totally embarrassing."

"Did he ever tell you why he did it?"

"Like I would have ever talked to HIM. Why? Do you know something I don't know?"

"I know WHY."

"Oh, do share."

"Because he liked you, and you wouldn't give him the time of day. I don't ever remember you even talking to him, and I think it made him mad. You were so stuck up in high school."

"What are you talking about? I wasn't stuck up."

"Are you kidding? I could have been lying dead in the hallway, and you would have either stepped over me or walked around me. Everyone liked you...even me, but you were in your own little world."

I couldn't believe what Lyle was telling me. This guy is just plain weird. Me? Stuck up? I doubt that. "Well, I liked you, too, but I don't get it. It doesn't make any sense; besides that, I was just SHY, not stuck up. Why didn't you ever talk to me?"

He laughed so hard then as though that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. "You were shy? Now that's just not the case. If you were shy, you wouldn't have raised your hand all the time to answer questions in class; and I didn't talk to you because I didn't want to be rejected. I wasn't THAT dumb."

That made us both giggle, "Well, thanks for sharing, but I think you're wrong." My new attitude regarding friends must be working, though, because he's talking to me now, and I'm not rejecting him.

However, the entire conversation struck a nerve. Here is this poor fella admitting that he liked me in high school but I totally ignored him. If he's right, then that means my "6th Sense" was doing me more harm than good. It was turning people away from me, people who could have become my good friends, perhaps even "true" friends.

To be continued...