A not so comical insignificant act

It’s funny how some insignificant things and people, or more precisely insignificant things done by people turn out to have great importance. Have you ever experienced that? Or do you know someone who experienced that? Well, if you haven’t and you are interested, here is a story I know. Although I have never experienced it, someone somewhat close to me has. I feel that gaining recognition for insignificant acts can be considered acceptable as it promotes a society of encouragement. But is it really necessary to turn attention to the insignificant acts or in other words is it healthy? I think it is healthy as long as it doesn’t deviate our attention from significant, which in most cases it does deviate.

2nd February 1990,

I was walking down the street when I saw a crowd gather in front of Mrs.Rose’s house. Mrs.Rose had been, in my perspective, a down-to-Earth woman with no complex affairs in any field of life. Except, of course, her teenage daughter did give her trouble. Stella Rose surely was my idol for her sorted attitude towards life. I was confused as to why this crowd was cheering and booing at the same time in front of Mrs.Rose’s house. My instantaneous thought was that Jessica had done something and in fact, it turned out to be true at the end of the day, both literally and metaphorically. I am a sorted person myself, so instead of joining this throng for no real reason, I passed by. It may seem like I wasn’t surprised, but the real reason is the crowd made no entrance for a tiny figure like me. I went home and for obvious reasons asked my mom if she knew why Mrs. Rose was having such a horde outside her house. Well, she too didn’t know anything about it.

Jessica, Mrs.Rose’s daughter, and I have been friends throughout our childhood and we turn out to be compatible in our teenage too except she gets too braggy at times.

Today, she bragged at a whole new level. According to her, she won a Guinness world record for keeping her nail polish stable throughout the year. Well, I was disgusted by how she lied so naturally. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to be in an argument so I left to clean the park. Now, that is not something a sorted person does, but that’s something a best friend might.

Later that day, I did wonder how someone could keep stable nail polish. The longest my nail polish stayed was the only time I put nail polish. In a week or so the nail polish was dried out and scratched at areas. 

I googled as to who kept nail polish the longest with no disturbance and in fact, it turned out to be Jessica Rose. Myriad thoughts in my head came all of a sudden. I wanted to laugh but then another perspective came too. The first thought was more of feeling guilty for thinking of Jessica to be a pathetic liar. 

It’s weird how we humans judge people so easily, even the ones we have known for so long. I knew Jessica was capable of it as she has been interested in cosmetics from the dawn of time. But how she managed to do that without anyone noticing she was up to this insignificant act and how she managed to earn a Guinness world record is still a mystery to me. I am a slow processor, and a little dumb for not considering the crowd and connecting it. Now it makes sense why the crowd was cheering but some were booing. Many parents were upset because their daughters took Jessica as their role models and started doing experiments with make-up. The cheer, one the other hand, was to congratulate Mrs.Rose.

Nowadays, Jessica and I are still the same,  walking to the cafe, the only thing that has changed is the number of people that greet us on our route, to be more precise the number of people that greet her. She has come to be of great importance in our locality for a childish act and even she agrees with that. I am proud of Jessica, for her insignificant act but also for her attitude that is still the same towards us which is something that happens rarely when people become popular. 

At school, many girls think of Jessica as their idol, but she never let that affect our friendship. Boys however still don’t like Jessica. The boys in our school have a mature choice, that is influenced by the series they watch. Their choice is a girl who is more on the cowboy side with chubby cheeks. Now, that combination makes me. These are some of the reasons why Jessica and I can be jealous of each other, nevertheless, when true friendship connects two people there is no value for these reasons. Mrs.Rose is also proud of her daughter, who still gives her troubles. Mrs.Rose wanted her daughter to be a successful person in the field of science which didn’t work out. I, on the other hand, want to be an astrophysicist, and Mrs.Rose is the only one interested in it. Mrs.Rose told some of her friends and it’s spread throughout the city. Although Mrs.Rose is proud of Jessica, some part of her feels embarrassed that her daughter is known for such an insignificant act. My mom, on the other hand, is proud of Jessica to the extent that she wants Jessica to be her daughter and I did get jealous. It’s weird how we humans want to swap lives with others even though we know that it doesn’t turn out nicely and this is true in any field, not just swapping lives. You should see when Stella Rose and my mom sit together, they go insulting their own daughters and praising another person’s daughter.

3rd September 2020

That’s from my diary of three decades ago, now Jessica and I have two kids each. Reading it I am reminded of Jessica with whom I haven’t talked with for a month or so. We live in different cities, but as they are not far away we have managed to keep contact. The legacy of Jessica’s act however continues, her children are amongst the most popular because of their mom. Well, they might not be considered popular, they are known by all, however, they are teased mostly.

At this age too, when I take everything into context, it still seems comical.