Susan's Scribblings the Blog

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.

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.

I killed a squirrel this morning.  I didn’t mean to.  The little guys just seem to zig when they should zag, and that is how they fall out of trees and, as in my case, get hit by my car.

I was headed to an important (recreational, too) early morning meeting, and took the main interstate to get there.  As I got into the area where the speed limit went up and I was accelerating, a squirrel appeared from the median to my left and started to cross despite the lack of trees.  As squirrels are wont to do, he doubled back toward the median.  Then he tripled back into me.  I heard the small thump and spotted the body in my wake.

I did feel terrible.  Never happened before in my life.

“Oh forgive me God,” I said, looking heavenward.

I never did understand the sport of hunting.   I even avoid stepping on ants.  Look out for and be looked out for is my motto.

I’m sure there are a jillion squirrels in the great beyond, all of whom have fallen out of trees, got zapped from chewing on live wires or trying to play chicken with vehicles.  If they have peanuts in Heaven, I’ll cop a bag from Saint Peter on the way in.  If I wind up in the other place, I guess they’ll be roasted nuts and cost my soul, but either way it’ll be worth it if I meet up with that unfortunate creature and can make amends. 

*(As in, “Boris darling, we’ll get moose and squirrel.”)

While looking through the jillion media guides to Olympic event scheduling and not finding accurate broadcast times, I found myself watching table tennis.  Sure, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump gave the sport some street cred, and I would sure like to see competitions with five or six of those little ping pong balls in play at one time, but it’s not really a sport that Americans seem to want to build stadiums for.

The back-and-forth of the game didn’t excite me, but watching the ritualistic serving techniques was amazing.  The players would dribble the ball, then balance it in the palm of the empty hand before serving.  I guess it’s a requirement.  Everybody did it.  See, in my hand I’ve got a ball!

From the camera angle provided by the NBC Sports Network, I was almost certain the players were serving the balls off their foreheads, but I know I’m mistaken.  Overall, the event is quick and a bit intense; watching the ball fly across the table was a little like watching a pissed-off bee in a closed candy jar.

I did manage to see some of the main events, such as gymnastics and swimming, but I also caught a few nanoseconds of equestrian dressage competition last Sunday, and that’s quality sportsmanship.  A co-worker who owns horses and participates in a few related events, admitted that people either find horse events intriguing or equate them to watching paint dry.  What a shame, when the horses were so magnificent.  Some folks just don’t understand the broad scope of sport.

There is room in the Olympics for events with discipline and style that do not involve pike positions or nanosecond finish line stretches.  Some of the best stuff, like archery and judo, have been played and broadcast when nobody was looking.  Fortunately, we still find out when the United States wins gold while the paint dries.