As I walked barefoot in the rain through the wet grass surrounded by the night, the darkness only broken by the brisk flashes of lightening that briefly illuminated a blanketed cloudy sky, inhale with a cigarette in hand I thought about my life and the events that transpired in the previous evening.

I went to a bar to watch football, I have never really been into watching sports but after a best friend introduced me to fantasy football I felt a motivation that I had not felt previously. As I was wrapping up a gentleman that was sitting to my right asked if he could get a ride home, he was in bad shape. He was in Middleburg that day because he had to attend some divorce court proceedings because his marriage had been falling apart. Bad shape, he was in pain, deep emotional pain he had felt love and it had dissolved leaving his heart in a state of decay. I thought that I had nothing to do for the next couple of hours so I would take him, he had lost his wallet and I offered to take him where he needed to go to find it. We began tracing his steps.

Our tracing took us to various places, as we got to know each other. He reminded me how inehbriated he was, I said no worries as I reminded him that I made a promise to find his items and get him home safely.

To ensure his safety was my promise as a human being. As we were driving from one way to another he had mentioned that he didn't like hurting people and he didn't like to be violent, but sometimes if needed he would act when feeling threatened. He spoke of how people will talk, talk, and talk about who they are and what they would do in a situation, but they never know what they will do until they actually in it. He is afraid to fight, but he is more afraid of what

I take everything personally, why talk about violence around me? Will I need to defend myself? "Hmmm," as I thought to myself, "if he attacked me for whatever reason, what could I do?" I could use his hand against him (it seemed badly sprained) or go for his eyes. I did not know, and it made me temporary uncomfortable. I realize how defenseless I could possibly be, and how that shuts me out from the world.

I chose to trust this random human being, who also happened to trust me, he said that I was being a good friend, and that he was really glad I was there with him helping him out (which I was happy to do).

We proceeded to go to another bar to attempt to find a lost phone, there we got into a conversation with another individual, we talked about fighting, and the individual did some moves as he was telling a story about teaching his daughter. I could see this made my friend uncomfortable and I understood. I got my friend out of there. We found his wallet, keys, money, but lost his phone in the process.

I got him where he needed to be, and he blessed me with music in our last moments.

He played guitar with soul, a man who felt defeated, lost, and broken sang his heart out, stomping wildly. I deeply admired the human in my presence, I had learned this man's story and was able to watch him perform his art that was inspired by it.

Interesting moments those were.

I found ice for his hand, told him to "make me a promise to fucking put your hand in ice!" So he could play another day.

I left. I don't know if our paths will cross again.

I felt the wet blades of grass in between my toes, inhale, sky flash, thought.

I thought about the random people that I have met on my travels. People despite their external appearance and mannerisms I chose to trust because they seemed to trust me. All the while keeping eye contact, not succumbing to a fear of a potential predator. But the attacks never came, it was only love. I kept my gaurd.

I thought about Swiper the Great, an Orlando rapper who I gave a ride home after an event, I remember looking in his eyes as he freestyled the most gruesome topics and themes. In the drivers side thinking, "Hmm how will I defend against attack?" The threat never came, only friendship.

I thought about Saul, the random guy I met in Las Vegas crossing the street at 3 am. We talked about life and injustice, he kept a rock in his pocket just in case he needed to hit someone. He used to do crack, but now only sticks to speed because crack would make him do crazy things. I thought he was homeless, but he had a home and he was helping house people who were homeless.

I thought about all the random people that I have met indoors and outdoors, those who were mean, those who were nice, and those who left me with good stories to tell.

We, as humans, all have our defenses raised to protect ourselves from the environment. Some of us have gone through more shit than others and that has us interact with our environments in different ways. We all feel fear, we all avoid danger, but we all have stories to tell, how much of our fear evolves from our misunderstanding of seeming strange humans?

How much of these walls can we tear down so that we can be more open and loving as a society?