In addition to the dead deer on the side of the road that is required viewing on apparently every trip in Pennsylvania I saw the following on my drive home from work. I was behind a pretty beat up Toyota truck. The paint on the Toyota logo on the tailgate was fading to nonexistent, there was a ton of wear and tear on the vehicle and just in general you could tell that the truck had seen better days. However, the truck had a bumper sticker on it; one that appeared to be out of focus even when you were stopped as if even the bumper sticker had been bought out of a discount bin. The bumper sticker simply read…
This truck is an answered prayer
As I have often admitted I am a cynical bastard and as a result part of me wants to take the combination of the bumper sticker and the truck and make a reference to praying harder. I feel horrible that that is really one of the thoughts that pops into my head. In reality, this bumper sticker is probably more honest than anything that I have written in the past six years. For that driver this truck could possibly be the best thing that ever happened to them and they are proud to give thanks for it. It might not be the most beautiful vehicle on the road but it is theirs and they are grateful for it.
I do wonder why I am a bit (ok more than a bit) of an ass when I see things like that. I guess more than anything I am a bit of a classist. That is odd given that I grew up in a pretty blue collar town and will never view myself as being upper class. But I think that the work I have done and the crowds that I find myself in has taken me away from my roots. As I have often said I am anything but average and sometimes I can lose that connection. Not that I am better than anyone else, lord knows that isn’t true, but my life is so different than even what I imagined it to be as a kid that I have to remind myself that being a cynical bastard is a horrible way to go through life.
Though I must say the cynical bastard in me always enjoys the first episode of the Biggest Loser. The early episodes are always the best as a) the contestants are in much worse shape than I am and b) they eliminate people who desperately need to be on the show or else they might die. I will always say that there is no crueler show than The Biggest Loser and this season is no exception. They went to 8 cities and weighed in three contestants. Then in each city the three contestants had to compete against each other (like run a mile) and whoever came in last didn’t make the show. Thus by definition the person most in need of assistance will not be on the show.
What happens when you have extremely unfit people run a mile with a reality show on the line? What you would expect: people collapsing, mental breakdowns and one trip to the hospital. Just incredibly cruel especially after you are introduced to each potential contestant and every single one of them has a sob story to tell. No one is overweight because they are lazy and ate too much. Each one has a personal tragedy that just hits you in the gut and that makes their eliminations all the more painful. I watched all two hours and while I learned nothing about how to lose weight I did learn that life sucks for a lot of people. Maybe I should just be grateful for what I have.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I mentioned the lost art of making a mixtape last week. As luck would have it longtime friend of the blog Tift Merritt released a song on that very subject on her latest release. Figured it would be a nice way to end the night.
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