That Guy

At one point or another, we are all "that guy"...

We were all that guy who won.

We were all that guy who helped.

We were all that guy who sacrificed.

We were all that guy who had it going on.

We were all that guy who had a perfect life.

We were all that guy who held the door open.

We were all that guy who was just so grounded.

We were all that guy who got a really good grade.

We were all that guy who had exactly the right words.

We were all that guy who seemed to have it figured out.

We were all that guy who gave you a chance to switch lanes.

We were all that guy who showed up even after a really tiring day.

We were all that guy who had lent you money to buy some gatorade.

We were all that guy who knew everything revolved around just him.

We were all that guy who really needed to get his act straight.

We were all that guy who had to make up a crappy excuse.

We Were all that guy who took the last piece of chicken.
We were all that guy who refused to offer you his seat.

We were all that guy who called in sick just to party.

We were all that guy who forgot to wash his hands

We were all that guy who showed up super late.

We were all that guy who twisted the truth.

We were all that guy who left his mess.

We were all that guy who didn't help.

We were all that guy who lost.

All these guys, all these that guy's, they are you and they are me.  We are all that guy who forgets what is really important. We are all that guy who the world tries to screw over. Every one of us is that guy that everyone else is watching and thinking "that guy..."

And, its a slippery slope.  In spite of never really knowing what side of the peak we might be walking on, we find ourselves often looking down from the pinnacle, from the top of the peak, trying to push others back down the incline.  We want to make sure that the bad guys stay bad and the good guys stay good.  We want to make everyone fits into the convenient little boxes we have created for them.  We wish everyone was just that simple.  However, just as not every "that guy..." can describe ourselves—I would never take the last piece of chicken, fries on the other hand are a different story—the same stands true for all the other that guys we happen come across.

Nevertheless, we often find ourselves adamantly trying to find solace in stickie ourselves to a certain side of the mountain.  We might want to bask in the glory of the sunny side or hide amongst the ease of integrity that comes from being on the shady side.  We think of ourselves in absolute terms, giving credence to neither our own complexity nor the inherent diversity amongst our actions.  By refusing to acknowledge our innate intricacies, we fail to recognize ourselves.

While we struggle with our own unease in accepting how we waver from side to side, we often ebb into a places where we lose our perspective, our vision.  While in these dark caves, we miss something important, something very important.  What we miss is that, quite often, in spite of all the blemishes in our light, there might just be someone out there looking—maybe even squinting because their own peak is a distance away—with an eye totally oblivious to the taintedness of its subject, thinking to themselves, "I wish I was that guy."