I am cursed.
I have what some of my family and friends term an annoying ability to notice things that most people don’t. I have had this “ability” for as long as I can remember. Sometimes the things I notice are trivial. Sometimes the things I notice are just plain strange. I don’t know why I notice the things I do. Sometimes I try not to notice things but I can’t help myself.
The first thing I remembered noticing in this vein was when I was learning about the President Kennedy assassination. I was a teenager and I remember seeing a photo of LBJ being sworn in on Air Force One. I noticed Kennedy’s wife standing with LBJ. She looked numb and I suspect was still in a state of shock. I thought that was such an awful thing for LBJ to do, have her stand there, still wearing her husbands blood, as if she was condoning his accession to the presidency. Then I noticed it. The thing that no one ever saw, or if they did, never comment on. If you look at the photo you can see the LBJ is glancing at a man standing in the near background. The thing that caught my attention is that, to me at least, the man he’s looking at seems to be fighting off a smile. I may be completely wrong but, to this day, it makes me wonder.
On the lighter side I am a fan of classic television. One of the shows I routinely watch is “Alice”. The characters are stereotypical but endearing. My grandkids introduced me to “Sponge Bob Square Pants” and I had to watch numerous episodes. It occurred to me one night that Sponge Bob is simply a remake of Alice. The analogies are to perfect. The story takes place in a “dive” of a restaurant. Mel (always focused on money) is clearly Mr. Crabs. Alice (a recent move in and intelligent) is a good stand in for Sandy. Vera (utterly harmless and often times quite simple minded) is a dead ringer for Patrick. Flo (and all who replaced her) filled the role of the wise cracking Squidward. Plankton is a solid representation of several of Mel’s competitors. The name of Plankton’s restaurant, “The Chum Bucket” is a great stand in for some of Mel’s competitors like “Shea Chug A Lug” or “Barney’s Burger Barn.” Mel’s chili recipe is as big a secret as the Crabby Patty formula. I’m not sure who fits the part of Spongebob or Alice’s son Tommy but no analogy is ever perfect.
Then there was the Apollo 11 press conference. I watched as Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins sat at a table and answered the press’s questions. Here were three men who should have been as giddy as a valley girl at a new mall. Instead they looked like, as my grandpa would say, they had just come back from a visit to the wood shed. You went to the moon! You walked on the moon! How can you sit there looking like your sitting on thumb tacks? I would sure like to know just what happened up there because whatever it was it managed to suck out any of the overwhelming joy these men should have felt.
I can’t help but notice that the “judges” in the Trump trials have set their trials to line up in such a way as to keep President Trump in court and off the campaign trail for essentially the remainder of the campaign starting next next year. If one “judge” had done this I could not have seen such an action as a conspiracy, even though it may have been one. When two “judges” do this it raises all kinds of red flags. When three then four “judges” engage in this behavior it passes from conspiracy to fact.
I can’t help but notice that young adults in America are being groomed to not own things. Young people today are conditioned to rent everything. From renting their apartments instead of buying a home to getting their entertainment from streaming services. No one owns DVD’s or CD’s any more. Fewer and fewer people actually read, let alone read physical books anymore preferring their phones, pads or ereaders instead.
In a similar vein people are being conditioned to have more and more done for them. As an example you can have nearly all your shopping done for you and delivered to your home. Want a meal, jump on the internet and have it delivered. There is even a company that will pick out and ship your clothes to you. Need to write an email, there’s a program to check your spelling, punctuation and even tone. Don’t want to work that hard, AI will write it for you. Who needs all those spelling and grammer rules anyway?
I’m not arguing against convenience, just the dependence and intellectual laziness that this type of lifestyle breeds. After all, if you constantly avail yourself of these ‘services’ are you exercising convenience or capitulation?
As I sit writing this at the local coffee shop I notice that the Uber Eats drivers have come and gone several times….
frigatenavysailor 