Where To?

I'm not the best at giving directions. To begin with, spatial reasoning and all that isn't my forte. I lose my bearings easily. Making matters worse, I have never driven much in this city. I have almost entirely used public transportation. That being the case, I can frequently give great directions on how to get from one place to another using the bus, but couldn't even guess at how you would drive yourself there. That being the case, I usually leave people looking to me for directions disappointed.

It has happened more than I would have guessed it would. I'm walking down the street minding my business, or perhaps standing at the corner waiting for the light to change. A stranger pulls up, rolling his window down. He wants to know how to get to someplace that I may or may not have been to myself. I strain to think of what he needs to do, because I want to be of help although I get little out of it. Sometimes I can help, and sometimes I can't. More often I would say that I can't help.

When I'm unable to furnish accurate directions, I do what many people apparently do not: I say, "Sorry, don't know." Other people are too embarrassed to admit that they don't know the way to the zoo or whichever place, and so they would sooner save face by sending the man in completely the wrong direction. He's now bound for Skid Row or some place, but they have have managed to escape revealing ignorance to a stranger.

Maybe it's easier with someone you know, which is odd. We care far more what those who know us think about us, and yet we are more comfortable exposing our flaws to them than to some jerk we'll never see again. At the very least, I am a lot more glad to help a friend than some guy. Hopefully, the haircare and apparel choices I have started to make in recent years make strangers reluctant to seek my counsel on anything. I wouldn't ask me for directions.