Two Kids, Two Cars

A new friend of mine asked me who is in charge.  A frequently asked question.  Does anyone have a FAQ for "how exactly is our species managed"?

Well, it's a rather easy question to answer, IF you have the people you want to take care of the little details you feel comfortable delegating.

I gave a vague response to my friend and sent her on her way.  She's intelligent and knows I didn't tell her the whole truth as she wanted to hear it.

There is a line between rumour and truth that I find interesting.  Some seem happy to float in a world of foggy half-truths, even if they are inconsistent with the real world.  Others will deal only in the facts they know, and not discuss conjectures unless they are seeking the truth within a conjecture or rumour.

Of course, you understand that running a world-sized civilisation means you deal only in facts but respond with fuzzy logic to the general population's inquiries about the facts.

I am a simple storyteller, spinning the facts/truth into both short and tall tales that have morals and lessons.

People want a good story, even if the truth suffers a fate worse than misstatements and sensational diversion.

Does anyone remember the U.S. and other nations boycotting the 1980 Olympics because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan?

Of course, that's the kind of headline we seem to remember best, vague notions of concepts like nations, worldwide athletic events and battalions on the move.

Mass hypnosis/hallucinations, perfectly legal and socially acceptable.

During my midday walk, I talked with Lloyd, a fellow resident of our neighbourhood, who moved here in 1979, before my house was built in 1987.  His son, a young boy at the time, helped the builder install insulation in the crawlspace of my house.

Lloyd and I met for the first time today, while a local cable television company had field reps looking at the easiest way to run a set of cables from the power pole on the street to Lloyd's place so he could have high-speed Internet and television.  The reps contemplated using a "ditch witch" to bury the line and run it through a large drainage easement on the side of Lloyd's property.

We watched a hawk chase after some buzzards and Lloyd guessed that the local crows would see the hawk and chase after it.

Another fellow told us about his excellent experience with DirecTV satellite service up on Keel Mountain.

Lloyd and I reminisced about the days when we thought we lived out in the country, without street lights, box stores and suburban traffic.  One convenience store and a cotton gin faced each other on the major road.

The days of my staycation/holiday during midlife retirement...

...Quiet walks (if you take away the sound of suburbia - lawnmowing, minor traffic noise, storm sewer construction and barking dogs).

...Easy conversation.

...Watching avian pecking orders in the sky.

Twenty-three years I've lived down the street from Lloyd and never knew we had a connection.

Thirty-four years ago I was just like Lloyd's son, installing house insulation for easy summer work with my friend Joey (Valda and Robert Francis' son).

How soon we forget how young we were, able to crawl through hot attics or tight basement crawl spaces, rolling out itchy fiberglass insulation or stapling it up, always remembering which way the paper backing is supposed to face.

Learning about water vapour barriers through OJT (and then later through science classes in secondary school).

I did tell you about Joey's later vocations, didn't I?  Stuff like photographing Borneo flora, supply chain management and BPM.

Never be afraid to ask a question.  Listen carefully to the answer, if you care about facts or concepts like the truth.  If not, enjoy the story the answer is trying to tell you.  After all, in-between birth and death, life is entertainment, is it not?