Blissful Ignorance

On Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to go down to my church and take a free hip hop class.  One of the guys in my small group had wanted the group to go as a way to celebrate his birthday.  I had texted a few people earlier in the day, but it seemed like they were going to be a little late to the class.  Since hip hop is a type of dance that is completely out of my comfort zone, I wanted to try to get there on time.  I figured I should probably be there from the beginning or else I would be totally lost.

I wasn't exactly sure of the train schedule, but was pretty sure if I got to the station by 6:45, I would be able to get a train that would get me to the class on time.  So of course I procrastinated, not getting ready until the very last second and giving myself exactly 15 minutes to walk down to the station.  I got to the stairs leading down to the platform just in time to see the train racing away from the platform.  So I waited for the next one and got to the class about 5 minutes late.

I was confused when I first walked in because I couldn't see a lot of my group.  I put my stuff down and joined in on the song they were dancing to.  After the song finished, the instructor let us have a water break, and I found a few of my friends.  But most of the group wasn't there.  After another 20 minutes of dancing (and laughing at myself), another one of our friends walked in.  When we got the next break, he let us know that there had been a concert at Hollywood Bowl and he was late because of the traffic around there.

As the songs and dancing and sweating continued, I watched more and more of my friends arrive.  All arrived extremely frustrated because they didn't realize there had been a concert and had been stuck in traffic the entire time.  But they came in started dancing or trying to dance (like me) and started having a good time.  I felt so bad for those who came in during the last song.  And I had been completely unaware, in blissful ignorance of the frustration they had experienced because I chose to catch the Metro that night. 

We grabbed dinner afterward the class, sung happy birthday to my friend and everyone had a good night in the end.

But the night does cause me to ponder if there have been other instances where I was blissfully ignorant of a friend's sufferings.