Man, Woman, Dog

Here's a short creative piece of writing from me. I hope you enjoy the notion that things are not always as they seem. It depends upon ones point of view!

Man, Woman, Dog

Man

The man led his dog out of the house, fumbling with the waste bag container as he closed the door behind him. He immediately noticed how gorgeous the morning was. The air was fresh from a light rain the evening before and delightfully cool with no hint of the oppressive heat that would soon be the norm. Summer was arriving.

The dog trotted down the front steps and headed between the parked cars to cross the street and head to his favorite spot for the morning pee.

The man thought, “You always pick the smallest opening between the cars, dude. And you’re in a hurry this morning, too. Hang on, I’m coming!” He smiled as the dog walked quickly into the middle of a flower bed and raised his leg, his face showing the simple pleasure of a fast emptying bladder.

The man looked around at the view being delivered by the early morning sunshine. 7:00 am on a Saturday morning meant few people were out and about. The only sound some birds whistling in the trees.

He felt the tug of the dog moving back to the sidewalk and beginning his morning trot signaling it was time to head to his favorite pooping spot. Not a direct route, of course, but one filled with multiple stops for sniffing and short squirts to mark his progress.

A block and a half further along, the traffic light let everyone know when it was their turn. As the man and dog waited for the “Walk” light, a woman came out of the Starbucks that was diagonally across the intersection. He never saw her face as she turned immediately right and began walking away.

He thought, “Wow! Look at her go!” The woman was slim and athletic looking. She was dressed in tight black yoga attire, spaghetti strap top, and was carrying a yoga mat over her shoulder. She had a small Starbucks cup in one hand and her other hand held her phone. Her gait was fast and energetic. So much so that her black ponytail was swinging jauntily back and forth behind her head.

He thought, “She’s got that self-assured look, like she’s ready to take on the world! She looks so happy, like she’s off to a great yoga class and then ready to face the day. I’ll bet she’s one of those women who always has a smile on her face and an easy laugh. Probably meeting her boyfriend or girlfriend for coffee and then brunch after class. I wish my walk still had that look to it. Sucks getting old.”

The man tried to keep his eye on the woman for as long as possible, but she was going to out of sight in a moment. He looked down to see his dog saddling up for his morning constitutional. He sighed as he pulled a bag out of the holder and prepared it for picking up the waste.

He said, “Attaboy, Dog. I can always count on you, right bud?”

Using the bag, he picked up the fresh deposit after the dog finished and spun the top of the bag to seal it for the trash. He looked after the woman, but she was around the corner and already gone. Except in his mind’s eye.

 Woman

The woman found the small latte she’d ordered via the app, on her walk to the Starbucks from her apartment. It was her one guilty pleasure, that latte. As she put the cup to her lips for that first taste of bliss, her eyes spotted her boyfriend over the rim of the cup. He was sitting at a small table and his hair had that “just gotten out of bed” look that she adored, and she smiled. 

He was looking away from her and she began to take a step towards the table when she noticed that he was looking at another woman walking his way, from the rest room. Her hair had the same look as his and she was smiling at him. He was smiling back as she sat down and put her hand on his. And in that moment, she knew.

Her smile disappeared, and her eyes flashed at the same moment he turned to see her standing there. His eyes widened with recognition, of her, of being caught, of loss about to happen, of fear of response.

The woman turned on her heel, took three quick steps and was out the door in a flash, reaching full walking speed, moving so fast that her ponytail was swinging in time to her strides, great chopping strides. She wasn’t running but anyone would have to, in order to catch her.

She thought, “Sonofabitch, you told me you were beat from working late all fucking week! You crawl out of bed with someone who lives in my neighborhood, in my fucking neighborhood, and get coffee with her in the fucking Starbucks that I stop at, every fucking morning! Godammit!”

Her mind focused on getting away from this place as quickly as possible. She didn’t want to see or talk to anyone, she just wanted to breathe and be angry and feel badly for herself and be disappointed for having been shit on, again.

As she turned the corner, she thought, “Men are such assholes.” Another few yards down the sidewalk, she sat down at a park bench and took out her phone.

She blocked his number and then deleted the contact. She thought, “Fuck you. You prick.”

Dog

The dog wagged his tail as the man connected his leash because he needed to pee and poop, and it would feel good to do so. And then the man would bring him back home and he could eat and then curl up at the man’s feet.

The dog thought, “I love my human.”

Europe Weeps and Wonders

Finish with the End in Mind

I started this post as a travelogue, covering an amazing trip that we took in April through the countries of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Hungary. It was mind shifting for me, thanks to some things I saw and conversations I had. I want to share this part first, for those that don’t want to bother with all the travel stuff. 

This used to be Yugoslavia

I was fortunate during this trip to speak with many locals in six different countries; fortunate because they all spoke English far better than I spoke their native languages! At some point in these conversations, the person would change their tone because they wanted to ask a very pointed question and didn’t want to offend me, their American visitor. The question would vary but the gist of it, every time, was something this.

“How did America elect Donald Trump as President when everyone doesn’t like him? And how soon can you get rid of him?”

Electoral College

I would explain that not everyone doesn’t like him, that over 60 million people had voted for him and our Electoral College had enabled him to be elected. (I gave this civics lesson, multiple times. I’m glad I paid attention in school.) His term was four years and he would serve at least that long unless something happened to shorten it. And there is no guarantee that he won’t be re-elected to another one. Then, I would ask why is it so important to you? The answers were eerily similar and focused on the same themes.

They would respond with something like this, “America has led democracy in our country, too, as we’ve tried to model ourselves after how you govern. Since 2016, we’re seeing people that resemble our old, autocratic rulers and right-wingers, all of whom seem emboldened by Trump’s election, running for election here. He’s awakened an ugly part of our potential leadership and the people that vote for them, and it’s at every level of elected government from local to national. Some are already getting into office! Our democracy is only 20 years old and is far less stable than yours. We’re worried that we’re going to wind up back in a very bad place. Isn’t there something you can do?” (This last line was always delivered as a plea and it caused my heart to hurt, each time.)

After having one of these conversations, it began to hit me that these smaller countries, who have only been able to taste self-governance for a generation or so, are in such a tenuous position. They’ve only just begun to manage democracy and need some time doing it, and doing it well, before it becomes cemented into place. Our last presidential election put a big barrier in the way of that.

Currently not sleeping well

George Washington once referred to our brand-new government as “The Great Experiment” because it was unlike any that had existed before. In those early years, there were multiple opportunities for it go south and disintegrate. Hell, less than a hundred years later (Four score and seven to be exact) our country nearly collapsed under the weight of the Civil War.

As I considered their points, I began to feel ashamed. Ashamed not for my country but for the way we’ve let our fellow citizens of the world down. For the way that we’ve disintegrated into a divided people who refuse to hold our leaders to task for not doing what’s right. For the way we’ve allowed another country to influence who we elect into the highest offices. And most of all, for abdicating our role as the leaders of the free world by focusing on “America First” and allowing others who are less scrupulous fill the void we’ve left behind. (China and Russia.)

Our President is turning our country into something it should never be. To established countries, we’ve become a laughingstock. We are led by someone who has no sense of acceptable behavior for a World Leader, is ignorant of the rule of law, in denial of any notions other than his own, is crass and misogynistic, and is being enabled by a party that is unwilling to hold him accountable for any of his regressive actions. To all the new democracies, we’ve become a cautionary tale – how not to keep your democracy intact in one simple lesson!

For those of you who are still Trump fans, I want you to know that I truly respect your desire to have a conservative government, one that allows free enterprise to expand and rewards hard work. I’ve voted for a conservative at least as many times as I have a liberal when I thought that person was right for the job and the time was right for that kind of leadership. You see, I like to think about keeping the car somewhere in the middle of the lane and, to do that, one must vote the other way when necessary. Capitalism is how we got this successful and I'm not interested in getting rid of it.

But I believe that Donald J. Trump is not the person to lead this country. I’ve watched the man in action for over 35 years and he’s never been that person. He’s a con man of the worst kind, always has been. He’s been stealing from people while smiling and telling them how great they are, for his entire adult life. He’s been letting them know he’s on their side while taking their wallet. For you to continue blindly following him as he does this, well, I have no idea what you need to see to change your mind. Maybe that’s it. You can’t be bothered to read, watch, listen to anything other than his propaganda. If that’s the case, I can't help but think that you’re lazy and you get what you deserve. I've done the research and I can tell you that I have no qualms saying he's the BullShitter in chief.

I don’t mind telling you that I’m concerned that we’re not going to be able to pull this slow, excruciating train wreck out of the ditch before it’s too late. And it’s up to us, We the People, if we’re going to do it. How? Email, call, text, Tweet, Facebook Message – however you communicate – to your representatives and let them know you’re waiting and watching for their actions. If you have money, give it to some form of resistance. Or, if you hate to contribute to politicians, put it into a non-profit that helps those in need. But do something. 

If nothing else, stop spreading the fertilizer that I see on social media without bothering to check its validity. (Seriously, a Google search takes 30 seconds. Are you too busy looking at cat videos to check???) Take some responsibility for insuring that what you say is factual or at least can be shown to have some factual content before you post it. And if you're proven wrong, take it down and admit you were wrong. I've done that and it doesn't hurt.

I’m convinced that we need to take this country back and I’m doing my part. I hope you’ll join me, too, and soon.