Happy Halloween and never make assumptions
Geez, I should know better at my age than to make assumptions about people but I seem to need reminding of this now and again. The incident today was perfect! The young female client who I was supposed to see at 9 am showed up after lunch with a shiner. I invite her into my office to chat briefly as I had someone else scheduled to come in. The client mentions that she and her boyfriend split up yesterday and I blurt out "Is that how you got the shiner?" She is mystified. Turns out she dressed up for Halloween at work as a hockey player and she has ditched the outfit before coming into see me. She says: "I left my stick out in the reception area." She looks at herself in the mirror in my office and says: "No wonder people were looking at me." We have a good laugh. However, our laughter was, at least for me but I think for her as well, bittersweet as we both recognized how often women are abused, even killed. In the last three weeks in the Vancouver area, there has been three or four East Indian women who have been killed - the latest victim, a pregnant school teacher. So sad.
