This morning when I arrived at the pool, I noticed that over 100 kids were sleeping on the floor of the gym with sleeping bags. When I asked the woman on duty what was going on, she said that they were campers from another Jewish Community Center, and they'd be leaving later on during the morning. I said to myself as long as they stayed out of my way and didn't clog up the showers, I'd be golden.

When I finished my swim and headed to the shower, the locker room was still completely empty much to my delight. I showered, air dried, and then made a beeline to the bathing-suit-drying machine. So as I am standing there completely naked drying my bathing suit, I suddenly hear commotion, and there are four fully clothed teenagers surrounding me, and the finally conversation works.

Them: Does that really work?
Me (slightly confused by the question): What do you mean?
Them: Is your bathing suit really getting dry?
Me: Absolutely it is
Them (taking steps closer to me): How does that machine work?
Me: You take your bathing suit, you push it in there, close the door, hold it down for however long you need, and then you're all set
Them: You think I could put my towel in there?
Me: Knock yourself out man
Them: That is pretty sweet, thanks dude

Now, at this point my suit was dry, and I just wanted to be free from them, so I turned around and starting walking towards my towel, and these dudes kept looking at me, like I was the Golden Child, and even though I am comfortable with my body and my sexuality, it just felt creepy, and for a minute that Jodie Foster movie came to mind but I turned out ok.

As usual, I don't have a point per se, I just don't understand why people don't respect the same sex nudity boundaries. Unless you're my son (only up to a certain age), or my doctor, there's no need for another man to be close to me while naked. There's just too many things that can go wrong, and not all of them can be easily explained away. Even if you want to look at me for some reason, its a look-at-the-sun situation..you glance, the you immediately put your eyes back down, and you high tail it out of there. That is still creepy, and I may still judge you, but at least I'll respect your game plan. Just staring or hanging out is unacceptable..to me at least.

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Resolution - Kurt Elling