A couple of weeks ago, my bank switched ownership, so I went in to do some paperwork. As I waited, the guy behind me started chatting. It was perfectly normal – I wasn’t particularly interested in chatting, especially since he was a little rude to the staff, complaining about the wait (it was longer than I preferred, but at that point when he arrived it was just the two of us in line!) and a bit of a know it all, but fine, whatever. He was older than me, so he wasn’t a Spring chicken and pretty set him his opinions, some of which were responsible, some more of the role your eyes variety. And it turned out that he was originally from Chicago, so I figured we at least had that as a topic of conversation. I should jump ahead here somewhat. That’s when I later heard him make some derogatory comment about Dr. Anthony Fauci. I wasn’t sure I could have possibly heard him right (especially since is West Los Angeles, where my Congress rep, Karen Bass (who is now running for mayor won her previous race with 89% of the vote. And I’ve since been redistricted, and my new rep is the even more liberal Ted Lieu), so I listened more closely, and he made an even worse comment about Dr. Fauci, basically that he should be in jail. I had zero interest in getting into a political debate standing in my bank line – let alone one that was insane – but I didn’t want to let it pass as if it was accepted. So, I said that I didn’t remotely agree with him and couldn’t believe he actually felt that way, but I had no intention of debating it. Him: I can’t believe you feel that way. Me: (thinking, “Gee, what a great comeback that was.”) I’m not going to debate it. We just disagree. Him: He’s the reason we’re in this mess. Everything he’s said has been wrong. Me: That’s not true at all. But I’m not going to debate it. Him: I hate that Fauci. I call him ‘Dr. False-y.” He should be arrested. Me: I am not going to debate it. Eventually he got the hint. He stopped, and happily it was my turn to go to a teller. It was also a conversation that, given how our earlier exchange (which I haven’t told yet) had utterly bewildered me, I thought now -- ah, ha, got it! -- in retrospect, was made oh-so much more clear. So, okay, back to earlier, when we were having our more normal conversation, which I preferred not to have, but okay, so be it. As I said, he had grown up in Chicago, and when I mentioned that I had, too, he asked which of the two baseball teams I followed. I starred at him for a moment and thought to myself, “Wait, what?, are you serious??” I tried not to let my reaction give that away, but I have no poker face, so I’m sure the silence was unexpected, as was my scrunched-up expression. And yes, I know you’re probably thinking that he and I were total strangers, so it was a normal question, and there’s nothing wrong with asking it, that I was being unreasonable to think he should somehow magically know my favorite team. But no, I wasn’t. Because this is how I was dressed. So, I starred at him a moment longer, trying to figure out how on earth I was supposed to answer him. And finally, I didn’t say anything, but just held up my right index finger and very slowly moved it up to my hat…and pointed. And left my finger pointing. It took a moment to kick in, but after a few seconds, he finally realized that, oh, right, you’re wearing a Cubs cap, and said, “Ohhhh, right.” That exchange did two things. First, it got me to move off chatting with him more than was necessary. And second, when he started his rant about “Dr. False-y” and arresting him and putting him in jail and how he was wrong about everything, it put all that in proper perspective for his grasp of reality and the world around him staring him directly in the face, which he wilfully ignored. Sometimes, life delivers perfect metaphors.
2 Comments
Don Friedman
10/19/2022 02:47:02 pm
The Cub thing could have just been a senior moment. The Fauci rant? There's no excuse for that.
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Robert Elisberg
10/19/2022 03:32:42 pm
Oh, sigh. "Could" it have been a senior moment? There are tons of things it "could" have been. But what it was is that he was standing three feet in front of me, staring directly at a Cubs hat and he was from Chicago, so it couldn't be missed. It wasn't a senior moment, he was a bit of jerk the whole time he was there (as I noted), and not interested in others, not paying attention to anyone else but himself. Complaining. But the hat, of course, wasn't the point -- it was just a funny occurrence and also a "metaphors" to make the actual point. Which was the Dr. Fauci ranting, for which (as you noted) there was no excuse. After which his ignoring reality staring him right in the face finally made sense.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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