SOME SILLY SUNDAY STUFF
When you dedicate a good deal of your time to reflection and attention to what’s really happening right now life gets pretty full in a hurry and that is a good thing. When you start developing a multitude of stance or perspectives for viewing. Your experiences peace and joy seems more attainable, however, there are residual effects and today is a day when my choice is toffee a few thoughts that I just can’t shake. I’m not necessarily proud of these but I’m going to share anyway.
So I am going to start with a true story that came into my memory. This morning. Oner of my dearest friends on the planet (RIP RVR) and I stopped. At the Ottley Lunch a very small cafe in a very small town which I gthink ironically was famous for their breakfast. It was a late winter/early spring day and pretty cold out so wee both ordered a cheeseburger, fries,and a bowl of chili. The waitress asked if we would. Like our soup first? Sure Bob answered. She brought. Out a bowl of chili set it on the counter and was filling the second bowl when Bob notices a dead bug probably an early season fly in his chili. Now growing up in a rural area, neither of us freaked out about this in particular, in fact we both started to chuckle a bit and Bob looks at me and says “you want to play the straight man on this or should I...?” I nodded not knowing exactly what would happen the waitress puts down the second bowl of soup and then Bob says...”should we bring this up?” I said “I suppose so”, and said “Ma’am we aren’t blaming you ,you understand, but therte’s a dead fly in my friend’s soup.” She blushes and says “Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry. Can I bring you another bowl? Bob then calmly says, “No can you bring us another fly? The waitress stands there in shock and knowing Bob like I did I knew exactly where he was going. “Another fly? The waitress asked. “Yes please”-“Bob gets this big grin and nods to me which means I’m to deliver the punch line. “You see Ma’am we’re going to put that fly in my chili and if it dies well we don’t really want the soup..” Now we both cracked up and the waitress just stood there trying to comprehend what. Had just happened. A farmer sitting two stools down had a delayed reaction and about 10 seconds later laughed really hard squirting coffee from his nose. I tried to apologized to the waitress and knowing that was a hopeless gesture Bob walked over to ther jukebox and plopped in a couple coins and pressed B14 (as I recall) Which was “Drop Kick me Jesus Through the Goal Posts of Life.” The waitress brought the rest of our food and said it was on the house and she was so sorry. We gobbled down the food and both put down five dollar bills on the counter (more that enough for the food and. A good tip in those days. the farmer speaks up as we were leaving and says. “Now you boys have a good day and stay out of trouble,” with a huge grin on his face.
These were just the kinds of things that brought Bob and I joy on a regular basis—always looking. For the unexpected perspective on things. I’ll only mention one more master stroke of Bob’s genius . We had just finished changing food services. Wholesalers. In our college cafeteria and there were “rate this” cards. On the table. One night the “fish” sticks were particularly unappealing so Bob grabs one of the cards and writes “here’s what we think” on it. He then said I’ll get USA some pizza later-everyone save the fish sticks. Bob walks from person to person spelling out words.(I won’t use the language he did, on their plates using the fish sticks and we methodically place them on the conveyer belt back to the kitchen. He then walks back to the food service office and tells the manager on duty that the. Dish line is about to have a problem and he walks out of the cafeteria. Several of us, knowing what Bob had spelled out had to sit and. Wait to see what happened. Well at first the tray person just must have been alone because the tray belt stopped and a little laugh came from behind the window. Next, the managers and their dish staff stoodas tray after tray showed up. Each with a “colorful” description of the dinner offerings spelled out with various bits of food. One by one as our trays disappeared into the kitchen each of us stood up and left the cafeteria. As the last of us left up the steps nearest the kitchen we heard full throated laughter coming from behind the double metal doors where our fellow students prepared and served the meals.
Well that was nearly 40 years ago now but the memory still brings me joy. Not because this was an act of protest or complaint in either instance—these were acts of saying we noticed, and while we weren’t thrilled, we were going to voice our.opinion in a creative way. We were not out to hurt anyone in particular, we just wanted our voices to be heard.
Sometimes I find the most peace, not when I agree with someone, rather, when I know we have taken the time to express our values in a meaningful or creative way. Standing up and shouting loudly, or calling people out, is not always the path that will bring enlightenment. The path to peace and joy sometimes mean letting the people you oppose see your message as disconnected from them personally.
Lights don’t just turn red because you are. Late for work. Your shoe string doesn’t break just because you hear the bus rounding the corner as you lean over to tie it.
It is hard to find peace when/if you are the center of the universe and everything revolvlves around you and I guess ev en when you think it might for goodness sake be humble and creative when you bring it to the universe’s attention.
That’s enough for a sunday—more tomorrow on seeking joy in the form of justice without seeking revenge...
BTW it takes six fish sticks to spell “rubbish” even if you are. Good at cutting them. Just right.
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