I Dunno
It’s a mystery to me.
How is it that I can do research on a movie and a trailer shows up on my computer’s homepage for the same flick when I sign on next time?
The power of snoopers in the modern age, right?
But if the computer geeks forwarding that useless information real-ly knew what I thought about folks shooting commercials at me like bullets from a machine gun, then they wouldn’t do it? Would they?
Seems like a critical miscalculation.
But, then they counted on the power of the mob… you know? Group-think, the herd instinct, lemmings jumping off a cliff to show their unanimity.
That kind of thing.
Only, I’m not a joiner.
Not a true believer in the party line for sure.
Like when they say socialism in Venezuela is cool.
I’d rather die twice than live in Venezuela.
In fact, the words ‘live’ and ‘Venezuela’ should never appear in the same sentence together. That would be precisely because it is a socialist hell-hole.
And in my case, it is also because I once knew a fella who came from Venezuela and whose family was driven from the land by those criminals now in power. To hear him tell of his former life and what he was forced to leave behind -to be torn from everything he knew and presumed he belonged to….well, you get the picture.
So, I don’t get the whole socialism schtick either.
Another riddle to me is when you are looking for a job and see openings at some company all the time…like, ALL the time..
Now, seeing that, the question should arise at some point, ‘Why does this place ALWAYS have openings?
In addition those openings appear at the management level as well as at the hourly-level. Odd, isn’t it? I mean, good companies take care of their upper executives… so if they can’t even retain their higher-ups, what’s the problem?
It would appear to be a cultural problem at the base of their retention problem. And indeed, it is. This company, which I have some knowledge of, is as far from understanding the Mid-South as I am reciting the genetic code chain of human evolution.
And that’s with me actually knowing the language the question is phrased in-unlike the owners of the place I’m talking about.
This sweat shop is located here only because of tax favors, exemptions and considerations from state and officials. Yet, this outfit knows less about how working conditions should be in this country than I know about sushi bars. And I don’t give a flip about sushi.
But, just give the West Memphis employment listings a good read and you’ll see who I’m discussing-it’s as familiar as the back of your hand-the same back of the hand they give to the local job pool of applicants that they yearly terminate.
I think their motto is ‘Kaizen’ which means ‘Wind blowing through.’ You get on it and, BAM!
You are in total gridlock.
Or you get on it and cars scream by at light speed.
Big rigs running cars into the road dividers in the middle of nowhere, and for no reason at all. Smaller vehicles playing dodge-em cars, throwing themselves into lanes without looking, with no regard for the lives of others or themselves.
Seen it all.
On the road the other day I was in the right lane and a car rushed up to the left lane right beside me where there were cars. Then the driver snapped the car to the right and cut me off by diving right in front of my car’s hood, nearly taking the front grill off of my vehicle and then panic stopping at once, veering left to swerve onto an exit.
Like, you couldn’t wait TWO SECONDS to get that exit? Real-ly?
Just a matter of a couple seconds of sanity as opposed to acting the fool and nearly taking out my car in some bizarre game of upmanship that I neither appreciate nor understand.
Leaving me to sweat, gripping my steering wheel in both hands, having stomped my brakes and witnessing my life flash before my eyes, like they say you do in the movies right before the end.
Thinking… “Now I can see why people are shooting at each other on the interstate system around Memphis. This twit just tried to kill me. Others might see this as an invitation to return the favor.”
And folks don’t see this coming?
It’s as plain as a runaway Grizzly bear bearing down at you at full gallop.
Jaws opening to devour you in one gulp.
Seconds to live and then…lesson learned.
Crunch, crunch.
Only, no one is learning the lesson.
You ‘dis others, they will ‘dis you (as they say in the local vernacular.) Especially if they got no Jesus-there is no hesitation in acting upon the impulse to pay you back for your own stupidity.
A word to the wise should be sufficient.
‘Should’ be, that is.
Only, don’t ask me.
Like I said, I dunno.
Robert L. Hall is a resident of Marion and has a Bachelor’s Degree in music from the University of Memphis and a Master’s Degree from Florida State University. He is the pianist for Avondale Baptist Church and a writer of fiction on Amazon eBooks.
