Sometimes you if you just stop and watch the world go by you'll see some wonderful things; other times you shake your head and wonder how the stupid ones are able to reproduce so often.
We had a bit of a storm on Sunday night, trees and telephone poles were knocked over; flooding closed several streets; electricity was out for hours in some parts of town; fortunately there wasn't a lot of damage to homes. The next day as I was leaving my office, I drove by a park in town. One of the larger trees had split and fallen. There were a couple of trees still upright but that had been damaged. Yellow tape had been placed around the area to keep people out until the trees could be trimmed. Of course two boys, maybe around 11-12 years of age were playing inside the cordoned off area. With the wind picking up again, it was only a matter of time before a damaged branch broke off. If something had happened to injure the boys, their hippie dad would have had a sit in, drum circle demanding the city fathers do something about the problem, all while his bottom-feeding, mud-sucking attorney filed a lawsuit. Hey, you taught your kids to be themselves, to rebel against the man, do what you feel like—not that I want to see them get hurt, but with behavior like that, it's more of an eventuality than it is a possibility. They will get what they deserve.
I was listening to Robert Griffin III being interviewed. The QB for the Washington Redskins said he believes he has nothing to prove to anyone and that he is the best QB in the NFL. Certainly he had one good season but the last two, well, he's not even in the top half of the QB rankings. He is being castigated by many in the press and pundit world for saying something so brash. In order to be the best at whatever you do, you have to believe that you are the best. Yes you have to work hard and deliver the goods, but when you are climbing to the top, you have to believe in yourself. But we don't want to hear you say that you believe you are the best. Isn't that a strange dynamic? We expect you to behave in a certain way but don't talk about it. Show humility but it should be hiding a huge ego.
Some days, I just need to decompress a bit. On those days, I'll take my lunch, go park at a local hiking area and just relax for a bit. Enjoy some solitude. On one such day this week, I was parked at the end of the parking area when a couple pulled into the lot and drove straight to where I was sitting. The pulled up in front of me, a couple of car lengths away, and sat there staring at me, talking to each other. It was like they were waiting for me to move and give them my space. After a short time, the man shook his head and backed up, seemingly frustrated or upset that I was there. Maybe it was 'their' space. But they then parked in the middle of the entrance, blocking ingress and egress, got out of their car, opened the hatchback and let their dogs out to go run around and do their business. No leashes despite the signs telling park users to keep dogs on a leash. No plastic bags to clean up the deposits left by their family members. They gave their dogs some water, then put them back in the car and left. They had blocked others from entering the area for about 8-10 minutes. I guess if they couldn't have it their way, everyone else was going to be inconvenienced as well.
I met the guy that owns Wal-Mart. Walking into the big blue mall on the hill, I was following an older couple. He was pushing a cart and was a bit slow. As we entered the foyer I slowed for them. At the second door, the woman stopped him and she got a wipe from the dispenser and began wiping down the shopping car. I stopped for a moment, as did the people following me. The old couple were not going to move to allow us to enter. They were busy, we could wait. I went over to the other door, as did some of the group behind me, got a cart and went on. Of course I kind of gave the old couple 'the look'; you know, "do you know how much you are inconveniencing me?' Then I thought about it. She was wiping the cart down to prevent her one foot in the grave husband from catching some terrible disease from what had been left on the shopping cart by some unwashed previous user. Too late, lady. He's already been pushing the unclean cart for 15 minutes walking in from the handicapped space. If ebola was on the cart, he's already got it.
I felt that strange warmth of satisfaction enter my body knowing that karma was on the job. I know I'm not a good person but you've done similar things, too.