This old song and dance

September 24, 2007 - Monday

What is it about the dry cleaners that I can never get there? I will drop off my stuff, and about three weeks later I think, hmmm I wonder where my sweater is. Oh yeah...damn it!

Are there certain tasks we do that just are so mundane we block them out? I like to think that I'm doing that with the dry cleaning. It makes me wretch a little actually that I say the phrase, "I have to pick up my dry cleaning."

Aren't there so many substantial things out there to say? To do? I'm not suggesting we all have to change the world with our everyday errands, but sometimes I get the feeling that many of us were meant for something more meaningful than waiting for our number to be called at the DMV.

Some might think it's cheesy to talk about random acts of kindness, but I truly believe pushing someone's car out of the snow will make the world a better place. At the very least, you'll get some exercise and another person will be on their way to lunch with a friend.

Don't get me wrong: I know there are things like wearing sandwich boards, spray-painting fur coats and writing dissenting literature that can make a statement. And many times they might succeed in changing minds and times. I'm not discounting any of that. I'm just more for the guerrilla-style warfare, you know? There are few things more disarming than a smile.