Honesty

I have a new theme in my life: Honesty. Honesty to people who love me…but most importantly honesty to myself. So in honor of my new theme, I yelped a few tattoo places and started driving towards the one with the most stars.

It’s a bitch to try and find parking in Hollywood. After circling the block, I finally found a meter. My windows were rolled down, because my dog Alex just loves to check out the streets while driving.

“Yeah, you can park here,” I heard a voice say. I looked through the window, and saw an African-American woman, perhaps in her mid-thirties, dressed in gangsta men clothing and a single ring of bling, and slightly smelling of alcohol. “Do you have any change?” I asked her. “Nah, but I can get you some, “ she answered back. I knew this wasn’t going to go well. Even my dog knew, because she growled at the lady. And Alex never does that!

But in typical Nadine-adventure fashion, I couldn’t help myself. I needed to see where this story was going to take me. I gave her a $20 bill and watched her disappear up to the hotel where she supposedly was going to get me change. She came back down and gave me two quarters. And $15.

“Sooo….this doesn’t add up. You owe me five bucks.” She looked at me puzzled. “I don’t know what happened to it.” So this lady meant to tell me that she lost 5 dollars in the last 5 minutes. “I’m serious, man, give me back my money!” A verbal fight ensued to the amusement of a few bystanders. She kept denying that she had pocketed the five dollars.

“Listen. If you had given me back my money, I would have let you keep it.”

Her face turned to that of regret. Did I see a tear in the corner of her eye? She began to ask for forgiveness. I challenged her again, and asked her to return the money in full. She wouldn’t. She continued the lie, this time offering alternatives like “I will get you the money tonight by 7pm.” What was she going to do? Hook? Sell some drugs for five dollars? “No, just give me back the 5 you took.”

She still wouldn’t. She didn’t know when to stop lying. She didn’t believe that asking for forgiveness, when she didn’t feel true remorse and the will to want to change for the better, meant nothing.

And suddenly I saw myself in that lying woman. I realized that it was something I had been doing for a really long time as well. Honesty finally had planted a seed within me. I left the devastated dishonest woman in peace. I knew that when the time came when she would spend those five bucks, she would do a double take before handing it over to some cashier. I felt relieved. It was one of those true life lessons that you can only learn if you’re wanting to learn.

And in celebration of that, I got a tattoo done at the shop right across the street from that parking meter. It’s a female Buddha floating across my shoulder blade. She’s my buddy who’s got my back. She’s my friend who I can turn to, someone who can keep me honest.

Yes, it hurt. But it was worth the pain.

Do you guys feel like looking at some more of my street photographs? Here ya go:

Streets of Aachen, Germany

I went to the Klinikum, which is one of the largest hospitals in the country. My parents work there. Doesn’t it look like some kind of a factory?

Inside the hospital/university cafeteria….

My sister and I went to hang out with the hospital photographer, who gave my sister a quick photoshop tutorial using a picture of me. She took it. Not bad, ey? Soon, she’ll be taking better pictures than me!

My father at work.

There were some snow storms when I left Europe, which delayed a lot of the flights. It’s interesting to see how people pass time. I do it with my camera…

Dare I say, people start looking the same? Same postures, different thoughts…

I really miss traveling. I will be doing it again. Soon. I must! Because I learn so much about myself and the world…

You guys should, too!