While
driving in some of
the more remote
parts of this
country, I have
often wondered why
anyone would want to
move into some area
that seems to be
totally beyond reach
of our modern
society.
I think I’m
beginning to
understand.
With the deluge we
are subjected to
through newspapers,
television, radio
and the internet,
not to mention phone
calls and person to
person conversation,
we process an
enormous amount of
information each
day. Most of it, in
my opinion, is of
the negative nature.
Today, there is a
report about some
insane rider on a
bus that kills and
decapitates another
passenger. Hardly a
day goes by without
an execution,
multiple murders, or
violence by some
gang member against
our society. Just
when you think it
might stop, up pops
some more from some
other part of the
country. We’re still
looking for Nazi war
criminals from World
War II. Toss in the
bad guys responsible
for current
atrocities and well,
I think you get the
picture. It isn’t
pretty.
The medical
profession doesn’t
help. One week, we
can drink coffee and
it has some helpful
effects. The next
week, it’s bad for
you and will cause
cancer. Sugar is
good and artificial
sweeteners are bad,
or are it the other
way around? Exercise
for thirty minutes a
day or exercise for
an hour a day?
Running is good for
you, running is bad
for you. Drink water
with fluoride or
water without? Drink
water from the tap
or use bottled water
with plastic bottles
that pollute the
environment? One
glass of wine a day
is good for you but
two may not be. Air
is good for you, but
where is it coming
from, and how can
you be certain it’s
really air?
I made the last one
up.
Then on top of all
of this, you throw
in the crooked
politician de’jure
who has just been
caught with his hand
in the cookie jar
and is saying
something inane
like… “I didn’t know
it was against the
rules to take money
from contractors.”
Or “That couple of
hundred thousand you
found in my freezer?
I haven’t any idea
how that got there….
someone is trying to
set me up…must be my
opponent.”
The newspaper in my
city comes in the
morning and I might
have to swear off
reading it
altogether if my
mood keeps going
downhill. It starts
my day off on the
wrong foot. I know
that if you or I
were to engage in a
little illegal
invoicing of
Medicare or sending
invoices to the
Pentagon for Iraq
services we never
actually performed,
we’d be in the big
house very shortly.
But, you will have
to admit that if we
work hard for fifty
or more years to try
and get some sort of
decent retirement
and then have to
read where some
corporate fat cat
stole a hundred
million or so and
got two years
probation, it does
tend to make you
wonder if you could
get away with it.
Oh, and you’d
probably have to pay
a fine of twenty
five million or so.
Let’s see, I steal a
hundred million, and
have to give back
twenty five million
and stay out of
trouble (on
probation) for a
couple of years. How
hard is that?
Even so, maybe
prison (at least at
the federal level)
isn’t so bad at all.
You get three meals
a day. Free
healthcare. Your
clothes are
provided, free of
charge. No dry
cleaning costs.
Chance to work on
another college
degree and certainly
could find time to
workout for a couple
of hours at a time.
You’d want to go to
the federal place so
you hopefully didn’t
have to share your
cell with someone
named ‘Mongo’ or
‘Killer’. Of course,
giving up your wife
and kids would be
hard, but I hear
they have these
‘visits’ now days…so
I suppose it’d be
like me traveling
and then coming
home. Every couple
of weeks.
With my luck, I’d
probably end up in
the same place as
all of the convicted
politicians and have
to listen to them
whine all day. I
don’t think I’d want
to take a chance on
that happening.
No, I think I’ll
just stick to my
current plan and
keep on going
forward. If all
turns out as I
envision it, I might
save enough to buy
me a place out in
the country.
Way, out in the
country…where I
don’t have to see or
listen to anyone and
can’t get good
television or radio
reception.
Hold on, I think I
answered the
question I was
asking myself at the
beginning of this
column.
