Help! My Heart is Full of Pony! - An Awkward Moment · 8:44am Jan 31st, 2018
I had to run a midnight errand just now, so I threw on my unicorn hoodie and headed down the block to my local convenience store / bodega. When I got there, the guy ahead of me on line looked at me funny. Obviously, he was unaccustomed to interacting with unicorns.
Now everything about this guy said machismo, from his posture to his clothes to his cologne. The unicorn hoodie clearly didn’t match his idea of masculinity. The two of us stood there silently for quite a bit of time before he finally looked me up and down and initiated a conversation.
“What, are you coming back from a kid’s birthday party or something?” He asked.
He was giving me an “out,” of course - an excuse to plausibly deny that I was wearing my unicorn hoodie on purpose. A lot of people do that when you’re being a little “weird,” and they aren’t quite sure what to make of you. It’s a polite way of letting you know that they think you’re a freak, while still giving you the benefit of the doubt. It's an opportunity for you to affirm with them that you are, in fact, still operating within their comfort zone.
Depending on the person, failure to play along could mean anything from amplified social awkwardness to violence.
Being a unicorn at heart, however, I replied honestly.
“No,” I said. “It’s just a hoodie.”
At this point, the conversation became every bit as awkward for him as it was for me.
“And people actually wear these things?” He said, still on the fence about whether he should be confrontational, or simply confused.
“Sure.” I said. “Why not? It’s silly, it’s fun.”
The macho guy stopped for a minute and gave it some real thought. Then, suddenly, in an instant, just like that, he smiled at me, and offered me a fist bump of respect. You do you, was the unspoken message. Shortly thereafter, we parted ways and wished each other well.
The End
I know it’s something of an anticlimactic story. There was no fight or grand punchline, but I guess that’s the point, isn’t it? Two strangers with very different world views cross each other in the middle of the night, and end up surprising one another - expanding one another’s horizons.
Bronies are a pretty well-known phenomenon at this point, but we are also still on the fringe. I reckon a lot of folks probably still get flak for expressing their love of pony in public. The important thing to remember is that how we respond often colors how it all plays out.
Ten or even five years go, I would have gotten very nervous by this confrontation, and conducted myself very differently. Like Fluttershy demonstrated in several of her episodes, however, confidence affects how people perceive and treat you. The same goes for Rarity in the recent episode where she lost her mane. It was her lack of confidence that made her invisible to others, not the mane.
In a similar vein, taking pride in oneself, and offering a warm and friendly attitude can go a surprisingly long way with people if you give them a chance. Nine times out of ten, what you convey will be a lot more important than what you actually say or do.
Looking back on the encounter, the muscle dude really was trying, in his own way, to see the best in people. More importantly, he was trying to navigate an awkward moment, just like I was.
-Sprocket
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That's a nice story, thanks for sharing!
Not every story needs an epic fight to be a meaningful experience. I'm glad to hear things are still awesome for you.