I stand waving, and it seems like the only kid that sees me waving is giving me the stank eye... right out there for all to see, or maybe that's just how it feels to me.
How you receive the stank eye says more about you than it does about the person giving the stank eye.
("stank eye" is a thing?)
He gives me the stank eye, and I, like an idiot continue my goofy wave, and continue back to my house. I wonder if he would smile if I did something more drastic like throw a snowball or do the floss... after all, he is the only kid that is looking.
I was kind of grumpy today and thought, "well little stank eyed kid, maybe you wont get a Johanna wave today just because I don't feel like it... maybe your stank eye will be received with a stank eye of my own!" But I forced my hand in the air, and moved it back and forth at the stank eyed kid staring back at me.
I don't know stank eyed kid, he doesn't know me. I don't know if he was up half the night because his parents were fighting about money issues through Christmas, if He has a sister that was up late on the phone with her boyfriend in the next room, or if he was looking at things under the covers of his blankets on the Internet that he shouldn't be... I just don't know.
What I do know is this: If I reacted every time I got the stank eye from a kid, my face would be in a continual stank eyed position... Not just one or two stank eyes but a whole stanky face.
AND how many people do I give the stank eye without realising it?? I will sometimes say to my oldest daughter, "When you do this: (stank eye on steroids) you are giving a message of "eat dirt and die." What are you actually trying to tell me, and please be respectful, and use your words." I'm not sure she realises that she is even giving me the stank eye... and who am I to assume the stank?
And therein lies the truth. You don't know the life behind the stank.
So today I make a choice to honour the stank eye. I will treat every stank eye that comes my way like a smile, and make the assumption that it has nothing to do with me until told otherwise. I invite you to do the same. Honour the stank eye.
