MEN ANGELS

Three men were my angels today. Yes, I know, men have been bashed enough that to think of them as angels is almost hard to reconcile. But they do exist - men angels (I am taking a literary license here). I met three today.

I arrived at 6:30 this morning at the federal building downtown for a 7:15 appointment. I saw the lights in the patrol car of the Homeland Security but did not really pay much attention to it. I parked my car, walked to the building and looked for the line where I should go. The line wasn’t moving. An officer told us that an unknown package was found in the back of the building so there was a delay. They told us to wait by the sidewalk.

There, I stood next to this middle-aged man who looked like the late King Hussein of Jordan. He was just a few inches taller than me, spoke with no accent, had salt and pepper mustache and goatee, was wearing blue jeans and chambray shirt. He had a blackberry on a holster and regular cell phone in his pocket. He had this cheerful smile and easy demeanor. We looked at each other and shrugged and eventually ended up talking. We talked about the seeming paranoia about unidentified packages, politics, economics, technology and just about any other topic we could think of. Every so often, he would make phone calls or answer a page. We knew we would be delayed and he had to adjust his meetings and tell his people what to do. That’s how I knew his name was Jack.

The officers told us to go to the other side of the street and we walked together. He was this perfect gentleman. He led the way and gently held my hand as we crossed the street and continued to talk while walking. He must have noticed I was limping a little, that’s why. A couple of people joined our conversation about the loss of productivity that day as they emptied the whole building and had everyone stay at least a street away.

Jack and I counted the number of people who were there ahead of us and approximated the time it will take to have our transactions done. After over an hour of standing up, my knee pain crept on me and I told him I have to go and maybe go back to my car and wait there.

I left Jack but after seeing that there was no way for me to get back to my car as the cops blocked the sidewalk, I decided to go to the coffee shop, have some coffee and sit down.

After about half an hour, I saw that people were moving back into the federal building. I stayed on and sat a little bit longer and when I saw that the crowd was already thin, I got up and went back as well.

Jack also had a 7:15 appointment and as we analyzed earlier, we should be okay as they would surely go by the proper time chronology. Most of the people crowded in lines, but I did not. I saw Jack, he was not in line either. We stood next to each other and just waited for the officer to call out our time and sure enough, in less than five minutes, 7:15 appointments were called. Jack walked next to me and held the door for me as we entered the building. I left him as I went through the metal detector and he caught up with me in the waiting area.

As we sat down we smiled and let go of a sigh or relief, both happy that we only lost an hour and a half, and wished each other the best. He gently tapped my shoulder and as my number was called, I thanked him for helping me maintain my (in)sanity for the past hour and a half. We did not ask for each other’s name nor exchanged business cards. We did not need to. He was a stranger who at that moment was my angel. That was all that mattered. My first angel.

My transaction did not go well. My papers somehow ended up in another state and I was advised to write a letter of inquiry. Sixteen months after submitting the papers and following up, my papers have fallen through the cracks. I wanted to bang my head on the wall, except it would probably hurt so I did not.

I was so frustrated and I wanted so much to either hurt someone or cry. Hurting someone was tempting, but they may actually hit me back so that wasn’t such a great idea after all. I got back to the office and told my boss, Miles, about my rotten morning, I told him I will need a few minutes alone to cry, as I was really ready to burst. He said for me to take my time and if I wanted to, to take the day off. I told him no as I will still think about work even if I went home, so I’d rather stay.

I went back to my office, closed my door and let it out. I must admit it felt good to cry, although having such a thin wall, I could not bawl as I would have preferred to. After about half an hour, Miles knocked softly on my door (which no longer squeaks) and asked if there is anything he could do, with this look of concern in his face. He again asked if I wanted to go home. I assured him it’s going to be fine and that no, it’s not at all work related. He let me be. What a great guy – my second angel.

I somehow muddled through the rest of the morning, and actually had a productive time. One of the girls asked if I wanted to join them for lunch as some of the folks are talking about going out. I told her I didn’t feel like socializing. Actually, I needed a fix of a protein style double-double at In N Out Burger.

So I went, ordered my # 1 protein style with extra grilled onions and waited. As I stood next to the benches, this old guy in suspenders stood up and offered me his space. I was really touched as both my knees were hurting now from the morning fiasco. I sat down and the guy next to me had his order called out so I motioned the old man to the space next to me. He sat down and as we waited, we got to talking too.

I commented on how all In N Out burgers are always busy and how nice it would be to own a franchise. The old man said it is family owned and no franchise is sold. They even have a burger school where they train all In N Out employees on what to do. He said they get paid $9 an hour so it’s not a bad gig for a kid.

Then we talked about motorcycles with sidecars, gasoline prices and a lot of other current events. That was a nice wait. It made lunch more pleasant, even as I ate alone later on. Somehow, my double-double was juicier and the fries, perfect. My third angel.

One never knows when he or she will play an angel to someone. But we all do, at some point in our lives. Many people cross our path everyday. We probably don’t give it a lot of thought because to many, kindness and civility come naturally. And even maybe, we get as much as we give.

I know three men’s kindness helped me carry on with my day. I may not see the other two again, but I will always thank them in my heart.

My three men angels.


9/12