I drove down Lomita Blvd and started thinking about Derek. Derek Wu used to play the violin, he might still be playin, don’t really know. I can’t remember when I saw him last. He was an intresting kid. He played the violin like a madman. I still remember him playing in every elementary school talent show we had. His glasses never flew off as his head jerked around with fury. He was so tiny too, almost the smallest boy in the class.
I remember one year, for his science project, he studied compact discs and how they stored information and how the information was read. This was in 6th grade. I think my science project was about Ocelots. I even made a mug that said SAVE THE OCELOTS. I think I can safely say that we were all no competition for Derek.
I was thinking about him today. I wonder what he is doing now. What school is he going to? What does he look like now? Then, I started thinking about my own life, and how average it is. I’ve never done anything exceptionally well, I don’t have any special talents. I have nothing. It’s depressing. I don’t want to go through life being average. Then I started thinking about all the other average people in the world and it made me even more depressed. I’m just like everybody, I’m passively conforming.
As I made a left at the green arrow from Lomita to Crenshaw I saw a man pushing his car around the corner. I was going to stop to let him into the lane but that would leave me and the other cars behind me in the intersection.
I kept driving.
Thinking about it further I figured since I didn’t have to be anywhere right away the least I could do would be to park my car and help him push. If it were me I’d definitely want the help, then again if it were me, I’d call triple A. This was my chance to do something meaningful.
I pulled into Torrance Crossroads and parked my car, walked over to him and asked if he needed help. He shook his head and said “Nah, that’s okay”, I even offered my cell phone if he needed to call somebody but he declined my offer. I guess he just wanted to do it on his own.