This article heading from a respected local newspaper proves that being lazy, using your instincts or a spelling checker program doesn’t work any better for the news media than the rest of us:
I always thought the “fit cit” was San Francisco, but I could be wrong.
I was in the bagel joint this morning when I witnessed something extraordinarily rare and wonderful: a young man thanked the preparer of his breakfast sandwich and wished them a good day, and when his passing through the queue caused an overhead sign to swing, a woman in line raised her hand and stopped it.
On an ordinary day, any other kid would never raise his eyes from the ground or speak, and a woman would back away from a swinging sign. This was a positive experience.
I felt so good seeing such things, I left my change as a tip for the bagel staff.
Things should happen like today more often.
Life sometimes gets too complicated. Right now it looks like people are up in arms about several different things at once. We’re occupying Wall Street here in the United States (again, it seems), and overseas it seems some people (well, countless people) are upset about an issue with religious sensibilities and whether somebody made a joke or really wanted to push emotional buttons.
At least I didn’t know the person responsible for the controversial film at the center of all this, and I’m not interested in seeing it or in making people of any religion feel uncomfortable. Most of us probably feel likewise.
I normally follow the Peanuts character Linus’ philosophy not to talk about religion when I don’t know enough to say anything of value. I also don’t talk about politics, and since all I know about the Great Pumpkin is what appears in the animated special aired every Halloween, I guess I’ve struck out on all three.
Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to just take a break for five minutes and not get involved in anything. Go sip some water. Take a micro nap. Clip coupons. Just stop for five minutes and settle the torrential mind for a bit.
It’s so easy to get het up about everything. Life is tough. We don’t always behave humanely. It will never not be that way. But throwing more logs on the fire of our emotions only makes the experience more painful than it should be.
Just take five and settle down. This, too, shall pass.
And pass it on to somebody else who could also use a break from it all.
Why does shampoo take up an entire aisle in the store? Shampoo is designed to cleanse hair, so it shouldn’t be a twelve step process to find one that works effectively at a good price. They don’t all have travel sizes so you can sample them, so the expense to find the right one can be daunting, and it shouldn’t be so.
Dish detergent comes in different scents, which can make the kitchen a more pleasant place to be when washing dirty dishes, and some of them even soften hands at the same time. They only take up half an aisle in the market. Hand soaps come in liquid or bar form, with a few foamy varieties thrown in, and they take up less space than shampoos.
Of course, the argument is that one’s hair is one’s crowning glory, so it has to look right. That involves styling, not what it’s cleaned with. So why are there so many products on the market?
I remember when shampoo was easy: kids had Johnson & Johnson, women had Clairol and men seemed to go for Head & Shoulders. Clairol came in formulas with a letter to designate dry hair, normal hair or oily hair. The letter was scrolled beautifully on a golden bottle. Then there was Prell, which always advertised that their formula was thick and rich, and a pearl dropped into the bottle would sink luxuriously at a slow pace. The bottles never even came with a fake pearl for experimentation, but nobody minded. The folks at Head & Shoulders made their product basic enough for manly hair, with no funny perfumes. Also, in those days, men wore suits and didn’t want to be concerned about dandruff, so that was their two-in-one solution.
Today we have formulas balanced for this problem, fortified for that problem and boosted to do something else. None of us go about our lives looking like the models in the commercials, no matter what we use.
The bottles are getting strange, too. Pantene has bottles in which the shampoo stands on its bottom as usual, but the conditioner (does anybody remember when we used “cream rinse?) stands on its head. The formulas come with terms like “Shine,” “Classic,” “Anti-Breakage” and “Daily Moisture Renewal.” They all cleanse hair, supposedly.
No matter what shampoo you use, the bottles all have the same problem: they slip out of your hands in the shower.
This week I was annoyed by some of the little inconsiderate things I saw just doing everyday things in life. For example, boarding a train I sat down and spent the trip watching an empty bottle of Gatorade rolling up and down the main aisle (up when the train slowed down to stop, and down when we departed the station again). What types of neanderthals do we share a train with, who can’t carry an empty bottle a few feet to the nearest disposal point?
I have always wondered about the “useful to gross” ratio which seems to be extremely short for some people. The moment a container is emptied of its contents, it seems some people can’t wait to simply drop the item to the ground as if it had gained cooties, even if a trashcan is inches away.
Somebody threw a bag filled with uneaten leftover food into a recycle container at the office, and due to the humidity, it was attracting flying insects. The maintenance crew had to empty that mess later on, and the recyclers who would have sorted out the bottles and cans get bogged down by such thoughtless actions. The issue is that a regular trash container sits at each desk in the building, and there is a pantry for more trash disposal. There was no excuse.
Maybe some people think that, when they’re grown men and women, it’s okay to just not care.
The problem with not caring is that, eventually, nothing is left to care about. Taking the easy, lazy way out does not keep this world nice enough for people in which to be lazy. In one of the Star Trek movies, the ever-logical Mr. Spock brought up the fact that it is always easier to destroy than to create. Obviously some folks never learned that. They hawk and spit, drop their napkins and cheeseburger wrappers anyplace they choose, and smile when they say they are free people. Free is not irresponsible. Freedom is a privilege earned by setting good examples. We may be Americans, but we’re still responsible for the land we live in. If we don’t keep it neat, no other country will come in and sweep up after us like they’re our parents and we’re six-year-old brats.
That is a problem with us: we don’t have the discipline we used to.
Our two major political parties sure know how to live it up. A hurricane blew in to put a wet blanket over the Republicans in Florida, and they hardly missed a beat. I wonder if the Democrats will at least get a good thunderstorm?
Political parties supposedly hold conventions for one thing: to affirm the identity of the candidates for the presidency and vice presidency of this country. The votes were cast in the primary elections, so really if each state held a news conference and announced that they recognized the candidates their people voted for, the overall announcement could take place in less than one hour using a live newsfeed from some strategic location for each party. If they wanted to hold a debate afterward, that would be okay, too.
Instead, we get entertained (or disturbed) by guest speakers and events like Clint Eastwood–whom I admire anytime he isn’t talking about volatile subjects like religion, politics or the Great Pumpkin (excuse me, Linus)–addressing an empty chair standing in for the incumbent. Again, I like Mr. Eastwood, but we didn’t need that.
I’m sure the Democrats will come up with some interesting ways to waste time in a crowded auditorium as well. Sure, attendees gather and touch base and chat up a storm during these things, but it really doesn’t do anything to help the nation’s conscious decision about who should be in charge of our nation come January 2013. I wish they would do away with such nonsense.
But then I also wish one of the candidates would promise to do away with Daylight Saving Time.
 | Eden on Getting the Message |
| Eden on The Unasked Questions |
| Eden on And Her Shoes Were #9 |
| Eden on The Poison Field |
| Eden on Final Tally |
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