so i was waiting for a couple of friends outside their school today when i was approached by, for lack of a better term, a gangster; with the baggy clothes, the swagger and everything. this guy was full-fledged frightening to someone like me. you have to understand, someone as feeble as myself gets intimidated pretty easily.

so my eyes darted back to my copy of plato’s republic to avoid making eye contact, but i could hear his footsteps getting closer and closer. i thought he was going to start a scene, maybe even rough me up a bit, and i was in the process of mentally preparing myself when he leaned over beside me and placed a dirty blue cloth on the ledge where i was sitting.

“i’ll be right back,” he said before darting off.

at first i was, like, ‘wtf?’ but then i turned to look at the random blue cloth he’d left behind and noticed that laying on top of it was a tiny baby bird.

when he came back, he explained to me how he’d found it laying helplessly on the sidewalk and couldn’t bear to leave it alone like that.

“imagine if it got stepped on,” he’d said to me, “it would be devastating.”

and then my heart melted and i felt all fuzzy inside. it was such a strange sight to see this huge guy huddled over a tiny bird, caressing it gently while looking into it’s eyes. he told me he didn’t know what to do with it, but he’d make sure it was alright. he said he’d even take it home and care for it if he had to (although he didn’t have any idea what baby birds eat).

it was kind of trippy. and he kept referring to it as a ‘nigga,’ which made me laugh.

“if it was grown up, i wouldn’t give a fuck,” he explained, “but nigga’s just a baby.”

the whole situation made me re-evaluate my first impressions of people and how i judge them. it gave me something to think about. this big, seemingly scary guy proved to have a heart of gold (at least when it came to wounded baby birds).

it was like something pulled straight out of a movie.

and it definitely made my day.