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Transformations -- Writer's Poke #153

For Writers:

I have a friend, let's call him Bandhu (which is Hindu for friend). A few of us took at trip to New Orleans one year, and Bandhu totally amazed me.

We were at a bar, and Chumbawumba's "I Get Knocked Down" was a very popular song at the time. Bandu just let it all loose on the dance floor. I can't say that he was or wasn't the smoothest cat out there, but what I will always remember is how uninhibited he was. And since the drinks in that bar were so watered down, I can't just attribute his moves to the booze. This young man was sober, and he was out there shaking it for the world to see.

On the other hand, he was still uncomfortable drinking a jelly shot off the stomach of a hired drink seller, but maybe he was simply concerned about her hygiene. It was the funniest thing watching him slurp the shot off her stomach, being careful not to touch her body in any way with his tongue.

And since he hadn't developed the nerve to lick her clean, he tentatively brushed off the residue of the shot onto the floor with his hand. Now this was the Bandhu I knew and loved, not the Dancing with the Stars maniac I saw earlier in the evening.

Something about him, though, was clearly changing. Right in front of my eyes.

How have you changed over the years? Are you more confident? More set in your ways? More liberal? In what ways would you like to change? What stops you?

"The key to change is to let go of fear." -- Rosanne Cash

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