The Good Deed

PROFESSOR SQUIGGLEE ... remember him? ... said he was strolling through a mall recently ... and noticed how shoppers (he was thankful the mall wasn’t too crowded with them at the time) were so like drivers.


“So many of them went whizzing around me like I was standing still,” he said. The Prof admits that he isn’t a power walker, but he does keep moving ... most of the time.


He says he also noticed that when he encountered three or four abreast ... headed straight toward him ... not one of them yielded an inch. He says he learned long ago that it’s best just to step aside ... and avoid a head-on collision.


“Some of the shoppers whip around me ... turn directly into my path ... and into a shop about half a step ahead of where I am. Couldn’t they wait just half a second ... until I’ve cleared the doorway ... and then go in?”


“Oh, and when they come out,” he observes, “they look neither to the right nor left ... but come barreling out with their double armload of purchases. I try to avoid colliding with them, too.”


“Then, no doubt, they get into their high-powered vehicles and go roaring off to play bumper-cars for real.”


-S&G-


THE PROFESSOR says this experience set him to thinking about preparing a pop quiz for shoppers/drivers.


(I don’t think he plans to give the quiz to everybody ... and I’m sure it’s an optional test for those who take it ... with the admonition to keep in mind that the second part of this blog’s title is “Giggles”)


The professor’s quiz ... and the questions aren’t given any particular weighting ... there’s really no pass/fail grading involved. Most questions, you may notice, require only a yes or no answer. (And remember, these are HIS impertinent questions, not MINE):


1. ___ Can you read?


2. ___ Do you know the meaning of the word S-T-O-P?


3. ___ Do you consider it just another four-letter word?


4. ___ Do you know the meaning of SPEED (as it relates to those activities taking place on streets and highways ... maybe even country roads, too)?


5. ___ Do you know the meaning of LIMIT?


6. ___ Do you consider it to have an optional meaning?


7. ___ Can you put two words together ... say from Nos. 4 and 5, for example ... and explain the resultant meaning without resorting to a bunch of legal jargon?


8. ___ Did you know your vehicle has devices for indicating your intentions ... rather than what you just did (like when changing lanes)?


9. ___ Do you know where those devices are?


10. ___ Have you ever used them?


11. ___ Would you like to learn how to use them?


12. ___ Have you ever yielded the right-of-way to another driver ... besides the driver of a semi- or other humongous vehicle?


And now for the serious part:


13. ___ Do you know how many thousands ... that’s right, thousands ... we kill on our highways each year?


14. ___ Do you really think you won’t be one of them?


-S&G-


NOTE FROM LOREE (Kansas) ... “loved the poem (last week’s “Autumn Crossing”) ... reminded me of why I hate thinking about moving out of the country and into town. Still, I know each day that passes brings that particular day one day closer!


“In town they DETEST those colorful leaves ... to the point that the city fathers INSIST that those all be picked up ... every last one of them. Surely much of the joy of their beauty is suddenly lost when one has to man a rake, drag huge plastic bags all over the place, and try to pick up all of the culprits.


“Each person who pulls leaf duty waits for just the right day for the chore. No too hot (sweat isn’t becoming!) ... absolutely no wind. In Kansas that in itself is a chore ... finding just the right day.”


-S&G-


TODAY’S QUOTE - “I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.” - Zsa Zsa Gabor (courtesy of WALT, Ohio)


-S&G- 

TODAY’S POEM - My reaction, at the time the event occurred, went from puzzlement ... to surprise ... to that pleasant feeling you get when somebody does a good turn for you ... and doesn't want, in fact, would refuse, anything in return.




Oh, I suppose my neighbor was grateful for the small favors we did him and his family when they had a house fire shortly after moving in. But he didn't owe us anything for our help, either. That's what neighbors do for each other.




He was grateful then ... and I was certainly grateful for all that shoveling he was doing for me. I had been waiting out the storm, dreading the task that confronted me. Then, suddenly, there he was, the good neighbor.




If I were to go ahead with this, I'd probably become preachy ... so, I'll just say that this one was originally published in The Christian Science Monitor:




THE GOOD DEED


All day the snow
has come sifting down,
obscuring objects
in our shaken globe,
and I'm standing
staring out the window
when I see the shape
of a person who's
obviously been driven
wild by the storm,
who pauses and turns
into someone I know
... my neighbor,
shoveling my walk.


-S&G-


COMMENT? Feel free ... below, if you like. 


Or if you prefer e-mail, that's fine, too ... especially for more detailed observations, to


rbrimm@peoplepc.com


... and it helps if you put "Squiggles" or "S&G" ... something like that ... in the subject line (just remember, no religion or politics ... please!)


-S&G-


Oh, and if you’d like to see what’s up with my other ... DAILY blog
... here’s a link to it:


http://rbrimm.blogspot.com/


Thanks for paying a visit.




-S&G-


UNTIL NEXT TIME ... take care ... see ya!


-S&G-


© 2009


MONDAY afterthoughts ...


     LOREE (Kansas) has won the coveted Magical, Mystical, Mythical GOLD STAR for being the first to respond to the current installment of S&G. It was almost as though she was waiting to pounce ... for there she was, at daybreak Saturday morning with a comment, proving once again that you have to get up pretty early to get ahead of Loree.
     Her observation regarding crowds in the malls: "One is at high risk of two things ... being knocked down and trampled by uncaring shoppers, or contracting the H1N1 virus ... each enough of a deterrent to keep me home!"