Po Boy Views
By
Phil LaMancusa
Happy New Year
Or
Other People
“Well,
sometimes you have to moan, when nuthin’ seems to suit-cha; but, nevertheless
you know, you’re locked toward the future” (Cat
Stevens: On The Road To Find Out)
Ask Uncle Charlie (Dickens) for the
illustration from A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge sits, just like you and
me, getting hipped to the fact that where he was, led him to where he is, and
will determine where he will be if he maintains the trajectory of his behavior
and existence. His moral compass and the consequences of his actions will reap
what has been ‘sowed and growed’. The Butterfly Effect; The Chaos Theory, will
remain unchanged unless a change in course is made. I believe, in our hearts,
that we all want to change for the better; that’s why we make New Year’s
Resolutions, eh?
Rush
hour Thursday evening; traveling Poydras Street; three lanes up and three lanes
down traveling at the speed of hope-to-get-the-f*ck-home. Like frantic captives
tortured by their terrorist employers, the cars, SUVs, vans and pick-ups are
escaping, racing away from all the misery their occupations heaped on their
souls and spirits that day and into life’s personal beating that awaits them at
home: spouses, offspring, rents, mortgages and the grass that is dying in the
draught; hoping Margaret Orr will predict some rain and wondering why the home
team got their asses kicked again. The cool taste of that first beer that goes
down so easily.
I’m
hugging the right lane going up towards Galvez Street and I spy the vehicles
veering out from the center lane going left and right at forty miles an hour
avoiding something. The something that they are avoiding is an old man in a
wheelchair stopped in center lane like a Grateful Dead set: no way forward and
no way back. And no one is stopping to aid his plight… or even slowing down.
Except
some guy (me) in a beat up ’97 Lincoln Towncar who pulls over (still in
traffic) turns on his flashers and jumps into traffic for a stranger in need of
help.
I’m
still in my cook’s whites, waving my arms like a sailor at a semaphore convention
and getting to him, ask ludicrously “do you need help?” Of course he does! At
this point I don’t know which direction he’s heading and when I find out… here
we go crossing 5 lanes of rush hour traffic! When I’m in I’m in.
“Did
you just--leave your car?” He asks “you shouldn’ta done that” “I’m goin’ right
there; okay, thank you I can take it from here; ya got a couple of dollahs you
can spare?” He points to the Super Dome and tells me “there used to be a
grocery store, right there.” I inform him that that grocery store ain’t there
no more and off he goes. End of story. How do I feel? I’m frickin’ livid!
I’m mad as a wet hen; cursing even, not at
him, but at the entire race of humans that cannot, will not, for one brief
miniscule heartbeat consider another’s dilemma that may at best be temporary
and at worst life threatening. And now, I consider that incident an allegory
for the state of the world. Listen: with any luck at all you have three
blessings.
1. You wake up in the morning.
2. You’re kinda in your right mind and
health and
3.
You have options.
You
can consider, like old Ebenezer that where you were--and where you are--is
leading you to a very predictable future if you but stay your course, direction
and pace. It sounds so simple. 1 and 2
are biggies and are really important to pay attention to; 3 requires
consideration or not. Ignore 3 and you will get to where you’re already headed.
Now,
you can consider that the world and its challenges and problems; its
destructions and die-ings; its equities and inequities did not just start today
or yesterday but are a series of steps and missteps that are in essence already
set in a motion and movement (centuries ago) that some say are undoubtedly
leading the world to its imminent demise. Some say that it’s too late to change
course; that things already are out of anyone’s control. I say that it’s a
mindset and conditioning brought on by media, politics and religion that at
best has to be overhauled from the ground up like an existential rebirth/epiphany
and I don’t see that as happening… ever in my lifetime (or yours). The Prince
of Peace is not returning; Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch today,
Madam.
It’s
too late to be an example to others. It’s too late to fight the greed
compounded by mendacity that is ruling the planet and our lives; souls hang on
by a thread with a prayer and a song. “We were talking about the love we all could
share; when we find it, to try our best to hold it there. With our love, with
our love, we could save the world; if they only knew” (George Harrison: Within You Without You).
I don’t know what to say. Happy New Year?
This year will be better? Our lives are predetermined; led by coincidence? Is
there such thing as free will? Can we unstick the mind f*ck? Maybe and maybe
not (probably not). Certainly we can only find peace in ourselves ourselves.
Certainly we can only practice compassion, empathy and kindness in ourselves
until it becomes our natural behavior. Certainly it is only we that can change
our behavior for the better. We have to see that as where we’re going. Or not.
There’s
an old man in a wheelchair sitting in six lanes of fast traveling vehicles.
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