lesson from day camp
Posted by nathan on 05 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: my life., thoughts on life.
About 12 years ago (i know, i’m old!) i worked at a Day Camp for the Auburn Parks & Recreation Department.
I was a counselor, and we did day camp for kids of different ages.
About this time, the movie Lion King was really popular, and the kids all loved Simba and the other characters. One afternoon, we had Lion King costumed characters come in and do a show. After the show, all the kids gave Simba a big hug. Then, all the counselors gave Simba a hug. i felt a little odd, as a macho athlete to be giving a hug to a guy dressed up like a giant lion, but didn’t want to make a scene, so i did.
This is what i learned: objects aren’t always what they appear. As i gave Simba a quick hug, i heard a female say, ‘thanks for coming, you’re really cute, you know that?’ as ‘Simba’ gave me more of a slow hug.
That was disturbing to me. First, i was expecting a man, not a woman. second, why was a giant lion flirting with me? third, that was really awkward.
After that incident, i almost felt dirty. i felt kinda ‘used.’
it was weird, because i wasn’t used or abused, but i felt that way. I couldn’t imagine how someone would feel who was actually used and/or abused.
have you ever been in such an ‘uncomfortable’ situation and care to share how it made you feel?
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2 Comments »
on 06 Apr 2007 at 8:19 am 1.
Emily said …
I used to work as a teller in a bank-at the drive up window. There were lots of times when creepy men drove up to cash a check and you could just tell they were following your every move. It made me and the other girls I worked with uncomfortable and made us want to hide. I think there was actually one girl that did hide when a certain guy would come thru…there are some creepy people out there.
on 06 Apr 2007 at 9:14 am 2.
Todd Helmkamp said …
I’ve been “stalked” (not in the legal sense, but in the vernacular sense), and its not very pleasant, although I can’t say I’ve ever experienced anything like abuse or anything like Emily described.
People like that make me want to forget I’m a Christian.