Viewpoint: It's Time to Write About Something Else

?The results were conclusive.?There were no ballot machines to manipulate, no staff of people to supervise, just heartfelt discouragement to follow my dream.?I’m sure you all remember me doing a little musing in print as to my future.??

?The summary is simple.?Lori and I cannot keep up with the demands of a weekly newspaper forever.?I can’t bear the thought of being completely retired.?So, I was bouncing off of you, our readers, thoughts about becoming a professional eater.

?The Colorado State Fair Slopper Contest was the impetus for the soliloquy.?I think the closest thing I can compare the feedback to was the crash of the Hindenburg.?It went down in flames.

?No one, not even ONE, who took the time to share their feelings with me gave me any hope of a successful run as a professional eater.?To quote one naysayer, “Don’t give up your day job.”

?I’m a recovering alcoholic so I quickly dispatched the idea of drowning my sorrows.?I thought about a professional eater’s idea of going postal- tracking down everyone who was negative about my idea and hurling a slopper at them.?But that would have cost a lot of money in traveling over several states for revenge.

?So, I decided to deal with it in a way I’ve always tended to deal with frustration and disappointment.?I decided to go out and eat.

?I knew just where I was going to go.?In Colorado Springs they have just opened a Der Wienershnitzel.?That’s a hot dog place I was well familiar with.?When I was on the road for years, I had several I stopped at regularly in New Mexico.?I was so excited when I saw there was going to be one so close.

?I pulled into the drive-thru with the five chili-cheese dogs for $5 that had been a past staple of mine.?Alas, time had destroyed that idea.?To get five now would cost closer to $12.?I counted the contents of my wallet and decided on two.

?The menu board didn’t seem very user friendly to me.?It was cluttered with so many items that it took me awhile to find the lone item I was looking for.

?The drive-thru, as new businesses often do, proceeded at a snail’s pace.?The person who took my order interrupted me several times and repeated the order several times more. There were only two items!

?I got one of those people at the window who was too happy, especially considering the betrayal I had received when I floated my retirement idea.?They couldn’t get the chip on my debit card to read, so they had to key in the numbers.

?With the smell of the chili cheese dogs escaping the bag, enticing me, the customer service worker went into great detail about how I could take a survey and get a free chili-cheese dog the next time I came in.

?He finally handed the bag to me and I worked on my escape.?The business is on a busy street, I could only turn right, and I wanted to go left. Because of the traffic it took a while to get out.

?I surged into traffic.?I ripped open the bag.?I unwrapped one of the chili-cheese dogs and took a bite…….

?You know, it really hadn’t taken THAT long to get my food.?The guy at the window was actually pretty likeable.??

?I took a second bite.?The sun was shining, the air was clear, and traffic was moving along smoothly.??

?A third bite and I realized that all of those people who discouraged me, cared about me, loved me, and wanted only the best for me.

?The world was right.

?I think by next week I’ll write about something else.