Hi, I'm Mark....I'm a Raging Anti-Stupidite
One of my favorite shows on TV has always been Seinfeld. What a great cast was put together for this amazing series. Jerry was frustrated with his dentist in one episode...Kramer comes back with the memorable line: "Jerry, you're an anti-dentite...a raging anti-dentite!" There are racists, homophobes (which I think is a stupid label in and of itself), anti-Semites... Hi, I'm Mark, I'm an anti-stupidite. I have an aversion to stupidity.
Perhaps it's more of an indictment on myself...a reflection of the things that irritate me about me...I'm certain there is something to this theory about my anti-stupidite condition. Being a Freaking Genius is not a full time job...I do, in fact, in my spare time, dabble in stupidity. I've become quite good at it too. Some of the lowlights of my life have been as a result of my best work in that trade.
I just spent the last hour trying to get to work. Why, you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I really need to tell you. Not that you really have a choice at this juncture.
There was a wreck in the northbound pathway out of the city. My job is in the city, therefore, I go southbound to get there. Typically this journey takes me between 15 and 20 minutes. Today it took me at least an hour. The wreck was a fatality. According to reports on the radio, at least one person was killed. Understandably, the traffic going northbound behind the accident was in gridlock...at a standstill. Not so understandably, the traffic southbound was also backed up for MILES. Why? Rubberneckers. Sheesh!
For the life of me, I have never understood the concept of rubbernecking. You want to see wrecked cars? Honestly? Do you want to see carnage? For real?? You want to see dead people??? What the hell is wrong with you??? It's not a made for TV movie...it's not a Bruce Willis action adventure where a car barrel rolls 14 times and Bruce crawls out to shoot more bad guys. It's not Hollywood, where there are special effects, make-up, and actors walking away at the end of the day to rest up for the next scene being shot tomorrow. It's real life! And real people just died!! Why are you so hell bent in seeing it?? So, lets stop all traffic so your morbid curiosity is massaged.
Maybe I'd be the same if I hadn't spent some time in emergency services...in fact, I was raised by a father who was in emergency services. I spent time rendering aid in many traffic accidents. I also spent time recovering bodies out of twisted metal. It's not pretty. It's really nothing you want to see. It's horrific. It leaves images burned in your mind that you remember for years to come. My first fatality accident was a young man, not much older than me who died tragically when he wrecked his car, it rolled down an embankment, caught on fire, and charred his body from head to toe. I remember going back to the fire station, laying down, and not being able to sleep because of the haunting image, an unimaginably horrifying image in my head, and the smell burned in my nostrils that I haven't forgotten to this day.
My point is...you don't want to see that which you turn your neck to rubber in order to catch even a glimpse. You really don't. It isn't pretty. It isn't entertaining. It's awful.
More than all of that, it represents a precious life of an individual who has a family and friends whose lives are suddenly turned upside down. The thought of me being one of those family members or friends whose loved one is being treated like a freakin carnival side show makes me all kinds of angry. I can get over the hour long drive to work much faster than I can get over the incredible stupidity that continues to plague us as human beings that causes us to do such things....myself included. We all need therapy!
And what's worse...they allow us all to vote! God help us all!
Perhaps it's more of an indictment on myself...a reflection of the things that irritate me about me...I'm certain there is something to this theory about my anti-stupidite condition. Being a Freaking Genius is not a full time job...I do, in fact, in my spare time, dabble in stupidity. I've become quite good at it too. Some of the lowlights of my life have been as a result of my best work in that trade.
I just spent the last hour trying to get to work. Why, you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I really need to tell you. Not that you really have a choice at this juncture.
There was a wreck in the northbound pathway out of the city. My job is in the city, therefore, I go southbound to get there. Typically this journey takes me between 15 and 20 minutes. Today it took me at least an hour. The wreck was a fatality. According to reports on the radio, at least one person was killed. Understandably, the traffic going northbound behind the accident was in gridlock...at a standstill. Not so understandably, the traffic southbound was also backed up for MILES. Why? Rubberneckers. Sheesh!
For the life of me, I have never understood the concept of rubbernecking. You want to see wrecked cars? Honestly? Do you want to see carnage? For real?? You want to see dead people??? What the hell is wrong with you??? It's not a made for TV movie...it's not a Bruce Willis action adventure where a car barrel rolls 14 times and Bruce crawls out to shoot more bad guys. It's not Hollywood, where there are special effects, make-up, and actors walking away at the end of the day to rest up for the next scene being shot tomorrow. It's real life! And real people just died!! Why are you so hell bent in seeing it?? So, lets stop all traffic so your morbid curiosity is massaged.
Maybe I'd be the same if I hadn't spent some time in emergency services...in fact, I was raised by a father who was in emergency services. I spent time rendering aid in many traffic accidents. I also spent time recovering bodies out of twisted metal. It's not pretty. It's really nothing you want to see. It's horrific. It leaves images burned in your mind that you remember for years to come. My first fatality accident was a young man, not much older than me who died tragically when he wrecked his car, it rolled down an embankment, caught on fire, and charred his body from head to toe. I remember going back to the fire station, laying down, and not being able to sleep because of the haunting image, an unimaginably horrifying image in my head, and the smell burned in my nostrils that I haven't forgotten to this day.
My point is...you don't want to see that which you turn your neck to rubber in order to catch even a glimpse. You really don't. It isn't pretty. It isn't entertaining. It's awful.
More than all of that, it represents a precious life of an individual who has a family and friends whose lives are suddenly turned upside down. The thought of me being one of those family members or friends whose loved one is being treated like a freakin carnival side show makes me all kinds of angry. I can get over the hour long drive to work much faster than I can get over the incredible stupidity that continues to plague us as human beings that causes us to do such things....myself included. We all need therapy!
And what's worse...they allow us all to vote! God help us all!
Comments
Post a Comment