So...started about 10 blogs, about various subjects, and hit the wall on everyone of them. I have so much bashing around in my brain right now, I can't seem to focus on any one thing. I realize even my little blog space has become an issue. Just so you know, I will not be experiencing anymore episodes in the Hotel industry...but..that does not mean I am totally done . Trust me, I had a bushel of tidbits stashed away, all of which will flow freely, when the urge hits me. See, all of this runs on urges...I can come up with an idea to write about, and then it disappears, and something else takes over.
For someone who outwardly seems like the world's most boring person, it is totally amazing how much I have going on behind the scenes. Problem is, the stuff is behind the scene, even behind my scene. My life has become one that I simply get handed bits and pieces on what is actually happening in it!!!FYI...I do NOT do well with bits and pieces. I latch onto a tiny piece, and I will tear that apart thread by thread, until I get to the real "meat". I am not one to sit quietly while others decide what my future holds (well, sometimes I have to sit, but certainly NOT quietly).
So...with that little piece of subtle seasoning...I figured this would be a perfect time to speak on matters I have experience with, small town ways. I have spent the majority of my life living in them, and I have seen much of the good and a whole chunk of the bad. There are rules in small towns, that folks who live in large centers never have to live by.
See, in a small town, everyone and everything is in your face. You cannot go out your door without running into someone you either know and like, know and dislike, or don't really know, but really don't want to. Or, is that just me? Every single person either knows your business, thinks they know your business, doesn't know your business, but will make up a business you don't even know about.
Now, as a child, small town was heaven, as a teenager, not so heavenly. That's when you started having your own" business"...and of course, that is when a whole whack of folks decided to stick their nose into your business, and add their own slant to things.
Hey, you did not have a chance. In a small town, there is very little excitement, in fact, life is often tedious, so, entertainment is found within the population. Nose sticking is seldom nice. Some slants can hurt, and those stickers that slant, do it purposefully. Just because a town is small, does not mean that it doesn't have it's share of evil.
The only way to survive the "slanters" is to protect yourself with a circle of friends. Friends will have your back, they will keep you informed on all the warped business that gets glued onto yours. O.K. maybe your friends can't fix things with your parents who get news flashes from the "slanters" on a regular basis, but they provide comfort when the slants become painful. They stand up with you, and allow you to continue with your business, maybe hidden behind the scene a bit better, because you have part of your back covered. So, I survived my fair share of business slants, each and every one of those is still a vivid memory, and along with my memories, those friends who had my back, know the whole business, those who didn't ,still believe the slants.There really is nothing you can do to remove the slants, pure unadulterated truth, does not make a lick of difference, because....then it would not be entertaining, or, it would destroy all the hard work spent putting on the slant.
Now to survive a small town, without friends, well, that folks is pretty nigh impossible, no matter what age. You may as well be walking into Dodge with a big red target plastered on your forehead. Hey, like I said, if they don't really know you, likely they don't want to. I can speak from both sides on this matter.
I remember new kids showing up in my hometown. I am glad I never really had to travel their roads, back then, but, I can totally commiserate now. Unless the new kids came in a group, which often happened in the small mining town, or...they were the mine manager's kid, or, the boys thought they were cute (which kind of screwed things with the local girls) they were on probation. I can't tell you how long probation lasted, because sometimes it was over quick, like if the kid did something to annoy the teacher the first day, hey....maybe we wanted to become a part of their business. However, some kids never ever got business partners, they had to keep their own backs covered, and, as hard as that is for an adult, I can't imagine what their lives were like. That red target never ever left their foreheads, and I admit I likely aimed for it along with everyone else.
So, to find your place of business in a small town, you either must be home grown (and in this case, every single nasty thing about you, is somehow acceptable, because you grew fertilized by the town), be a part of a specific group, with the rule all group members must have each others back, be a business person, with enough money folks accept your slant, and can't possibly slant it anymore than you have, or, and this is the most difficult, dig around in all the crap to attempt to find a friend.
I have used my blog as a place to put my business out in the open, for everyone to see. I want the scene to be wide open, I don't want any glued on bits, belonging to someone else, hiding behind. I actually feel some sense of compassion for the Slanters that have chosen to foray into my business, as I am far from exciting, and to have to spend time and energy on such a boring business, is sad.
I figure it is time to simply cover my own back, because I have reached a point in life that it becomes clear, I can always rely on me. I am responsible for my own actions, or lack of actions. I am of an age that I know what is important to me. I will accept the harm that slants have caused, not quietly, but with the realization there is nothing, not even the truth, to remove them. That old adage "the truth will prevail" has been proven wrong more than once, and "honesty is the best policy" is another that no longer seems to apply. All the rules I was taught, and tried to live my life by, have been replaced, without a new list mailed to me.
I guess I will simply have to learn to stand up straight when all around me, seems to be slanting!
No comments:
Post a Comment