Impressions

There are people in my life that are constant disappointments to me only because I know that they have so much potential, but are comfortable coming home and watching television and going to bed. Then there are those people that you don't quite know well enough and have an impression of how they are.

There's this person that I work with. This person is always late, often wanders away from the desk, constantly talks about sexual conquests and getting drunk nightly. She projects this shell of a person. A tragic stereotype of the product of a broken home. I like this person. She's nice. She means well. She's just looking for a place to fit.

Up until today that's all I knew about her.

I stumbled across a blog that hasn't been updated in months. I started reading it, thinking this person is really intense, insightful, and thoughtful. Then there was a video posted title "Friends." I started playing the video and it was a montage of friends having great times.

About forty-five seconds into the video is one shot of a girl holding a camera in front of her face pointed at a mirror. Sort of a self portrait. The camera becomes shaky and just for a moment I get a glance at the photographer. Its a familiar face, but somethings different. The face is confident, sober, and happy. Its this girl from my work.

I started reading through and watching all the video posts, intruding on this person's personal life. Stories told through bandwidth. Everything I thought I knew about this person is different. I found myself wanting to march into work on Monday and just tell her, "You're going to be just fine."

I don't know if I'm going to be able to just smile and treat her the same Monday. Will I be able to convey what I know through eyes and body language? Is there a way I can tell her she isn't as worthless as she lets on without embarrassing her? Or should I let her go? Will she leave this job for something that does make her happy forgetting all of those she left behind without knowing that someone there appreciated her art, her life.