Parades & Lint Traps

What could they possibly have in common, parades and lint traps? Well, let me tell 'ya. They both remind me of why I sometimes find people SO irritating and selfish! Inconsiderate? Yes. That is probably a better word choice. In general, I believe that I like general hoi poli that run around this planet. This city. But once in a while...o boy do I want to punch somebody. I want to shove out of the fold out canvas chair the rotund man wearing a bandana around his head, a black harley t-shirt, shorts, white socks and black reebok sneakers was sitting in, on the edge of the sidewalk in anticipation of the Sea Fair parade that was 2 1/2 hours from crossing 4th and Pine. Him and all the other curb hogging, parade gawking out of towners making a wall out of their bodies and chairs and coolers of soda pop and subway sandwiches making it next to impossible for us simple folks who are just trying to cross the street to get HOME!

Me: Could I please squeeze by you, sir?

Seated Gawker with leg swung up on 2nd chair: No. Sorry. I been doin' that for an hour and i'm not gonna anymore.

Me: Well, what do you expect? You're BLOCKING the sidewalk! (harumph! stomp, stomp, stomp.)

He didn't move. I thought of a dozen other things to yell at him as I walked along the curb in the OPPOSITE direction I wanted to go, looking for an opening. Trying to catch the eye of these people, who would not acknowledge any of us poor stranded pedestrians, for fear that eye contact would mean they'd have to get up off of their lazy parade watching asses to let some of us through!

Is this what all parade audiences are like? I don't think so. This was the first year that the Gay Pride parade was held downtown. It followed the route that I assume the Sea Fair parade does. I had to walk to work through the actual parade and it was a breeze to get through. No one stubbornly stood their ground, afraid of claim jumpers. People respectfully, POLITELY let passers by PASS BY. Now, I don't want to make any generalizations, I will let the reader draw his/her own conclusions. And, if you had to pick teams and you had to choose between the Gay Pride Parade audience versus Sea Fair Parade audience...who would YOU want going to bat for you? Huh? Bring on the divas!

Which brings me to the lint traps. I know, you've been reading this entry in giddy anticipation at the possible parallel. Rest assured, they are connected. Connected in my day, which was yesterday, which is why I will ask this next question. How many of you, as second nature, clean the lint trap after you've taken your clothes out of the dryer? I'm talking to you who live in apartment buildings where the laundry room is a shared space. You do this with out thinking about it. It's habit? How many of you do it with the small hope that it will start a revolution and EVERYONE in the building will begin to do the same? How many of you don't even consider that someone else is going to be responsible for cleaning out YOUR lint? Perhaps you feel justified because you had to clean out someone else's?

I did laundry last night. I cleaned out someone else's lint. Later. I took my clothes out of the dryer. I cleaned out my lint. I thought a quick prayer, "maybe this will start a revolution." I know it won't. I know that I will have to continue to deal with imoveable parade stumps and clean out lint traps and it will annoy me because I want people to be thoughtlessly considerate of others. And that I will be annoyed with myself for being annoyed, because what good does that do me or anyone else? Because I have a hint of the idealist chromosome. (Not infallible, by any means. I hope these things for myself, too; I don't count me out.) I have hope for humankind and believe that even the seemingly innocuous task of scooching over when asked can be a start.