Wasteland

Well, fall's slowly arriving which means I will be spending more time writing on my blog (I hope...You may not).

I wandered over to our local convenience store this morning to pick up some totally unhealthy treat for myself and experienced something that made the gnarly, curmugeonly old Muddah rear her ugly head. Mind you, I'm generally a pretty accepting person whose motto is usually "live and let live". However, I witnessed my pet peeve today, and it was all I could do to keep the Muddah's mouth shut!

I drove into the parking lot to find only one possible parking spot (which is unusual in itself for our tiny town on a Sunday morning). That would have been great, except there was an ugly mound of, good Lord what was it, right outside the door where I parked. I backed the car up slightly to avoid it. As I walked into the store, I encountered an obstacle course of "customers", all of which appeared to be in their early to mid-twenties, aimlessly standing or wandering the aisles. My first encounter was with a 'boy' and 'girl', showing a rather dazed enthusiasm for the novelty lighters close to the checkout stand. "Ahhohhhh, this one looks kind of cool, but I don't know if I could figure out how it works", said the girl as she intently tried to focus on the product. Her male friend offered no assistance, but stood there and stared at her the same way the girl stared at the lighter.

As I made my way to aisle two, I was stopped by another couple, this time a very "girlish" sounding boy and his female "BFF". "Well, I know", but I just think it's more fun when it's just you, me and few other friends, you know?" "Listen, pal...", I hear this girl say as I rudely interrupt with an "excuse me", and the PowerPuff twins move quickly to the side as the boy says "Oh, ha-ha, I am just so good at getting in the way!" I quickly find my purchase and scoot my way back to the checkout stand. As I'm rounding the corner, I see the clerk speeding in the other direction to get behind the counter. "Poor woman", I think to myself as she positions herself at the register to check me out. "I wonder if this onslaught of teenage wasteland is something she has to deal with every Sunday morning?" My thought had barely taken shape when she opened her mouth and uttered what I believe was "How are you this morning?"

Do you remember Cheech and Chong, the two comic druggies from the '70's? You know, "Bassetball Jones", "Up in Smoke" and "Sister Mary Elephant?" Those guys! Well, this woman sounded EXACTLY like Chong! Kind of slow-talkin', with spurious half-thoughts....Half-whining sentences generously peppered with "man".....

Have you seen that movie Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment, where the boy sees dead people and you think "Thank Gawd, Bruce is there to help him", and then you find out at the end that Bruce is dead TOO?? (Yes, it took me til the end to figure it out! Shut up!) That is what I felt as the clerk uttered those benign words... "How is WHAT? Oh....the morning...this morning...How am I this morning!" Faster, brain, faster!! "Oh, so far, so good!", I managed to stammer. "How are you doing?" "Oh, me?" she says, "Oh, all my days are good days, man, you know, as long as I wake up in the morning, I'm doin' good, man........"

I made my purchase and fled back into the parking lot, only to nearly collide with the staring boy and girl I met when I first went into the store. He had evidently bought her one of the novelty lighters...The one that looked like a miniature "Coors" can. She was standing just in front of the gas pumps, swaying slowly to and fro, kind of staring at her prize as if she couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. As I rushed to my car, I realized that the "mound" of goo I'd carefully tried to avoid was the remains of someone's half-eaten bar-b-que SOMETHING from Subway....YUCK! As I threw the car into reverse and backed out of the parking spot, I was reeling with a mixture of angst and rage! WHAT A WASTE! Is all I could think as I backed my way out of that parking space and onto the street.

I've always considered myself a caring person, almost to the point of sappiness. No matter how frustrated my peers would become with people or animals, I could always find some sympathy in my heart for the target of their pessimism. In earlier years, when I saw young people such as those in the convenience store, I would go so far as to blame their parents for the way they were "turning out", and feel sorrow for them because they were "never given a chance". Not anymore. Not after working over 21 years for an agency who attempts to give these people a chance, only to realize the efforts are for naught. I've come to believe that some people are born to lose. They seem to know it and accept it, even embrace it! And while it may be a fate allotted to them outside their control, I simply cannot abide a loser. Yes, young people will make mistakes - most will unavoidably learn from them. The people I'm talking about do NOT learn. They seem to be perfectly happy as losers and don't wish to ever change their position. THESE are the folks I simply can't abide. It's a difficult thing for me to accept, because I believe there is great potential in ALL people. But it's there and I have to accept it. And in some odd way, it makes me feel like a bit of a failure too, which is what, I suppose, makes me angriest of all.

I hope she learns someday how to work that lighter!