ARRRRRGH!!!!!

OK. I am not an old man, I am not necessarily a young man, but I am NOT an old man. 38 is pretty d@^^n young if you ask me.

So I was walking around the Sooper Dooper got everything store, you know the blue one, and not the light (does that narrow it down enough for ya?).

I was looking for canned tuna. Pretty easy, huh? Well think again, ten minutes into walking aisle by aisle looking for Tuna, I realized that I had yet to see a blue-mart employee. As a child, I can remember not being able to find something in a store, and within an aisle or two, there was someone stocking, or cleaning, or something. Now here is the kicker, that employee would have actually known where the tuna was!! Now I understand that when you have 55 acres under roof, it can take a few people to cover all of the bases, but come on, no one on 12 aisles??

So I am walking around this forest of food products that I did not need, looking as lost as the next person was feeling I am sure, I was gone so long, my wife sent my son out on recon to see if he could find me. Finally, I notice a sign that is MAYBE the size of an index card with the words “CANNED MEATS” on it. Who would have thought that you would find tuna in the canned meats aisle? Out of the 55 acres of covered warehouse that they call a super center, they had a 5 foot section on one aisle dedicated to Canned Meats.

My wife just read this over my shoulder, and pointed out that any woman who reads this is going to say that I should go to the store more often. Well, I am man enough to admit to that being part of the problem, but you cannot tell me that women never walk into a store and say “I know it should be here somewhere, where did I see that stocker again?” I know women are a better species than men, but that much better they ain’t.

This is just another example of the fleecing, or the breakdown, or whatever you want to call it, of America. As my profile says I live in small town Texas. I live in a town of 3500 people. I have lived here since I was 5, save 12 years of early adulthood, so basically for my entire memorable life. I can remember thinking for most of my childhood that I could not wait to get out of this Podunk little town. Soon after getting out, I realized how much better small town life was, and therefore, spent 12 years away from here, trying to figure out a way to get back. I did finally succeed. Life in a small town is completely different than in the city. When I walk down the street, or go to the store, or whatever, I am guaranteed to see someone that I know. I lived in Georgetown for several years, and I could run errands for several hours to this store and that, and not see anyone that I knew. I am an intensely private person, but I can tell you, that it is nice to go to town and be able to talk to people that I actually know and who know me, not just people that see each other at the little league fields.

The importance of community is lost in America! My parents are still friends with people whom they lived next to, in a neighborhood in Dallas, 50 years ago. I have no idea who any of the people were, that I lived next to in any of the incalculable apartments, rent houses, and houses that I have lived in during my adult life.

The federal government is making the mistake of trying to be our neighbor, and it is time that we stood up and told them that our neighborhood is full. There was a time when people had trouble, they would cry on their neighbors shoulder, and their neighbor would honestly listen and do what they could to help. Now most people don’t even know who lives next to them much less what kind of trouble they are in.

I saw a news report on the Houston news awhile back about a man who killed his teenage daughter for something. I am pretty sure that she was pregnant, and her father believed that to be a disgrace to his family (I agree, but that does not give him the right to kill her.) The reporter interviewed his “neighbors” and you could tell that they really had no idea who this man was. They new of him, but you could tell they were not a close knit community.

I guess my mother-in-law is right. Church is the only place that you can get that in this day and age.

By the way, I did find the blue-mart employees; they were all sitting on the curb farthest from the store talking about something far more important than their jobs, I am sure.

Until the next time, I wish only the truest love and the happiest days upon you and yours.