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Couple
of items to cover this week. This being the week of Veterans Day, we want to be
sure and remember those who have served or are serving to keep this country free.
Just remember what you are reading isn’t even allowed in some parts of the world.
I don’t mean my column, I mean a newspaper that is free to say what ever it wants
to say and not be in fear of reprisals or jail to the editor and publishers. You
and I might not agree on how the government is to be run, but at least we have
the right to disagree. That right was paid in full by some veteran at some point
in time over these past 200 plus years since this republic came into existence.
Call up your dad, Grandfather, Uncle or son or daughter and tell them how much
you appreciate them. Don’t forget.
Here I am in the airport at Dulles
airport in Washington D.C. waiting, waiting, waiting for my plane. When you have
a chance to stop and look around at the folks in your area, you begin to notice
a few things that are quite strange.
First off, everyone seems to be talking
to themselves. Then you realize that a lot of people are now using a wireless
headset to talk to someone on their cellular phone. So, you never know when someone
is actually saying something to you or to their best friend or Aunt Martha in
Seattle. I don’t know about you, but I find it distasteful to be made a part of
other people’s conversations telling me things I don’t wish to know. If I’m eating
dinner, the last thing I want to hear is a conversation in the next booth or table
about what some guy did at work or why Sally left Harry. In many cases, the conversations
border on the macabre and I’d just as soon not be a party to what they are saying.
What happened to private conversations? What happened to peace and quiet at dinner
or lunch?
Then you have the e-mail fanatics with their wireless computers
and blackberry’s. They can’t seem to be away from whatever or whoever for more
than a few minutes at a time. Have to check that e-mail in case I get another
notice from those wonderful folks in Nigeria telling me that I am the recipient
of fifteen million dollars left to me by some kindly, unknown missionary. I get
over 100 e-mails a day, and I’d say 5 are worth opening and reading, the rest
are junk and spam. I don’t need to check for junk and spam every five minutes.
It makes me reflect on how did we exist in years gone by when all we had to conduct
business was the United States Postal system and Ma Bell. I remember when fax
machines came out and they were a really big thing, but you can’t carry one of
those around with you. We have evolved into an instant society in which everyone
is expected to answer and respond in seconds, not days as it was twenty years
ago. Sometimes I think progress isn’t so great after all.
The airport is
a wonderful place to study humans. You can see all types of people doing all types
of weird things. Grown men playing computer games with the ferocity of it being
the meaning of life and death. It’s a game, get over it. Read a book.
I’d like to see some airline have a requirement that you must take an airline
orientation course and get your passenger license before you are allowed to fly
on their planes. I swear you would think some people think they are the only ones
getting on board. These are the kindly folks who find their seat and then stand
in the aisle arranging their luggage in the overhead compartment or looking through
their bags for a book or magazine while the rest of the entire group of passengers
stays by waiting for the aisle to clear so we can close the door and take off.
These are generally the same passengers who haven’t figured out that a bag measuring
three feet by three feet just isn’t going to fit into the overhead compartment,
no matter how hard you try to cram it in.
Enough of that, I need a vacation
since I can sense I am becoming too cynical. Where can I go and relax if I don’t
have to fly?
Have a good week; don’t forget to thank a veteran… |
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