Mental Calibration
Attitude Check? Check!
One of my "other duties as assigned" for The Man is serving on one of the numerous boards & commissions that address issues that arise here in Sweat City. There's no lack of these boards, and some are more useful than others. Most of 'em are strictly advisory in nature, which lets them root up trouble without actually being able to levy taxes/fines/etc.
Anyway, I digress...
This particular board meets monthly at one of The Man's facilities designed for the disabled community. Most of the programs there are aimed at citizens with disabilities, and it's one of the few 100% accessible buildings in the City.
So, I'm sitting there in the parking lot, just killing time before the meeting starts, running the truck's A/C and pumping carbon into the atmosphere, and I'm dreading this meeting. 9 years I've been attending, and as an ex-officio member, I'm there to show the flag. I don't really participate in the debates, and I don't have a vote. Mostly I just try to stay alert and field any policy questions. Some months I get lucky and one of the contracted ASL interpreters is there, the really hot one that looks like a Angelina Jolie/Megan Fox hybrid, but without the inherent skank. Mmmm. Those are good months.
I'm fussing with myself about the hot day, the long walk, the two hours in a hard plastic chair, etc. etc, then the door to the facility spews out a crowd. The 3:00pm class must be over.
It's about a baker's dozen kids with their parents. Each of the kids is in the 4-6 year old range, and each one's swinging a white cane. Huh. Blind kids learning to use the cane. Imagine that...
Next out is an older couple, pushing a thirtyish woman in a wheelchair. They get to an SUV, then unload this huge engine hoist contraption out of the back to sling the daughter up and out of the chair and into the SUV. This guy does it like he's done it 8 times a day for the past dozen years. And perhaps he has...
Heading into the facility is one of the local activists. His crusade is raising money to provide low-income paras and quads with sufficient catheters. Just like a junkie can spread disease with a used needle, folks that can't afford new catheters re-use the old ones with insufficient cleaning, and the resulting infections have hospitalized many and killed more than a few.
A bit of a reality check drifted down on me. I bitch and moan a lot about being obese, and the resulting issues that arise from that, but by & large I've got no problems at all.
Anyway, just a thought. You may think the world's got it in for you, but I guarantee there's plenty of people lower in the shitpile than you...
One of my "other duties as assigned" for The Man is serving on one of the numerous boards & commissions that address issues that arise here in Sweat City. There's no lack of these boards, and some are more useful than others. Most of 'em are strictly advisory in nature, which lets them root up trouble without actually being able to levy taxes/fines/etc.
Anyway, I digress...
This particular board meets monthly at one of The Man's facilities designed for the disabled community. Most of the programs there are aimed at citizens with disabilities, and it's one of the few 100% accessible buildings in the City.
So, I'm sitting there in the parking lot, just killing time before the meeting starts, running the truck's A/C and pumping carbon into the atmosphere, and I'm dreading this meeting. 9 years I've been attending, and as an ex-officio member, I'm there to show the flag. I don't really participate in the debates, and I don't have a vote. Mostly I just try to stay alert and field any policy questions. Some months I get lucky and one of the contracted ASL interpreters is there, the really hot one that looks like a Angelina Jolie/Megan Fox hybrid, but without the inherent skank. Mmmm. Those are good months.
I'm fussing with myself about the hot day, the long walk, the two hours in a hard plastic chair, etc. etc, then the door to the facility spews out a crowd. The 3:00pm class must be over.
It's about a baker's dozen kids with their parents. Each of the kids is in the 4-6 year old range, and each one's swinging a white cane. Huh. Blind kids learning to use the cane. Imagine that...
Next out is an older couple, pushing a thirtyish woman in a wheelchair. They get to an SUV, then unload this huge engine hoist contraption out of the back to sling the daughter up and out of the chair and into the SUV. This guy does it like he's done it 8 times a day for the past dozen years. And perhaps he has...
Heading into the facility is one of the local activists. His crusade is raising money to provide low-income paras and quads with sufficient catheters. Just like a junkie can spread disease with a used needle, folks that can't afford new catheters re-use the old ones with insufficient cleaning, and the resulting infections have hospitalized many and killed more than a few.
A bit of a reality check drifted down on me. I bitch and moan a lot about being obese, and the resulting issues that arise from that, but by & large I've got no problems at all.
Anyway, just a thought. You may think the world's got it in for you, but I guarantee there's plenty of people lower in the shitpile than you...
posted by El Capitan | 3:29 PM
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