Dec 14, 2017
The Daddy-Bear
There’s this big fat dude from my apartment complex who stands outside the building every morning to watch until the school bus picks up the middle school kids.
He doesn’t speak, he just stands there, focused. His sweat pants and hoodie are dark and old, his beard bristles in the cold. He’s a presence on our street, standing like a huge black bear on it’s hind legs. He means to be seen.
He waits until his young teenage daughter gets on the school bus with her friends, and watches it pull away down the street, safely in motion. Then he exhales, seems to lose a few inches in height, and shuffles quietly back inside.
That, I think as I watch him go, is how to be a good man.