The Watchers.

 

This was my first bear encounter at
Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Ill.
We could sit on this bear and hug him.
No one cared.
I felt sorry for the poor ol guy being stuffed and all.
His once beautiful fur was ruffled from all the people
 trying to touch him
He had lots of fingers going through his hair as he stood watching.lol
At this time they also had a boxer monkey in a cage.
There was a sign saying not to touch the cage but
this little boy put his face to the bars
and got a punch square in the nose .
He flew backwards about a meter and began to cry.
He wasn't watching a much as the monkey was.lol

They also had this huge tortoise you could also sit on.
Today they don't allow you to do these kind of things.
But I guess back then, there were less kids too.
The old guy was used to being watched.
After the zoo we'd go to the beach and a picnic.
I loved Chicago.
Downtown was so exciting to see but my Grand Father never
allowed us to go out of the yard.
He said it was too dangerous. Lots of racism.
My younger cousin was stabbed near the heart by a group
of black boys, coming out of the barber shop.
He had 10 dollars for a haircut and less coming out.
He refused to give them his change.
My uncle was walking with his girlfriend on the sidewalk when,
some drunks came out of a bar
shooting aimlessly. He walked a block to get the hospital.
They couldn't put him to sleep, trying to get the bullets out
and he said he was screaming from the pain.
He was very angry with the doctors who saved his life lol
Animal cruelty was seen quite a bit too.
Once someone took a neighbors' cat and skinned it and threw it half
skinned, alive, to die in my GrandFathers' back yard.
They did the same to squirrels.
So going outside was not an option.
I felt like an ol southern girl , swinging on a swing
 on my grand daddy's  back porch.
Even then they watched me like a hawk.
Thunderstorms were quite fierce too and scary to watch
 and the heat in summer
always kept you sweaty.
We never had this kind of stuff back home in Quebec.
But we also didn't have this whiff of something in the air.
Excitement, danger, life!
Reminds me of the movie The Deer Hunter with De Niro.
You were like a doe and always at some ones' mercy.
As a kid, I was quite impressed with Chicago.
My uncle was a dance instructor, in his spare time.
He could dance like the wind and I loved watching him jump
 about 6 feet in the air.
He also played the accordion and we'd all sing along
and clap hands. My Mom's parents loved watching the family
when we were all together like this.
Every where you looked, people were enjoying life
doing one thing or another.
The girls loved my uncle but he was always watching me
hugging me and holding my hand to make sure he didn't lose me. lol
You grew up one day, with your spirit/ soul
full of holiness from watching
such a mixture of pain, suffering and love.
Then you entered university and everything was churned upside down again.
My professor told us there are different people in the world
Hustlers and watchers being two of them.
I guess I'm a watcher, sent to learn.

xoxoxoxoxox