as I was pulling through a parking lot

a paper shredding service truck

was parked in front of a school

not an unusual sight at the end of a year.

what was unusual

was when the two young men

who were the mobile ‘shredders’

suddenly began frantically chasing

huge swaths of paper

all over the parking lot

the wind had  picked up

just as they were carrying out

these giant piles of paper

to feed into their shredder

  in an instant

they were running around

grabbing and gathering up

all the paper

caught up in the swirl

I was driving

 not able to catch an action photo

but wow, were they moving fast

like on those old game shows

where you just had a short time

to grab as much cash as you could.

soon they were back by the truck

with armloads

but I thought about

how ironic it was

they had one job

they came to shred papers

for security reasons

but had almost lost many of them

to a blustery wind

with the potential of them

heading to parts unknown

all around the city

good thing they were young and athletic

soon walking back to their truck

with armloads of paper.

getting back to the work of shredding

security restored

perhaps that’s one of the job requirements

for just this very situation

the people doing the job must be secure

or at least respond in a very secure way.

—

“when you work with someone who is not insecure, that makes you confident. “

-shweta tripathi”
—

Here is their company motto on their website:

“***** Document Destruction is a professional shredding service based in ### MI, specializing in secure and confidential document disposal. With a focus on protecting sensitive information, **** Document Destruction offers reliable and efficient shredding solutions for businesses and individuals.”

Where will he go next, this phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare – Chicago?  Los Angeles? Miami, Florida? Vincennes? Indiana? Syracuse? New York? Any place, every place where there’s hate, where there’s prejudice, where there’s bigotry – he’s alive. He’s alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others. Remember it when you hear a name called, a minority attacked, any blind, unreasoning assault on a people or any human being. He’s alive because through these things we keep him alive. – Rod Serling

*He’s Alive” from The Twilight Zone, 1963,  the closing narrative from one of his most bone chilling episodes ever written, about history repeating itself, a shadow from the past returns and hovers, and those who will follow at the cost of others

this may not have worked out exactly as hoped

but maybe another round?

 

—

‘in order to win you must be prepared to lose sometime.

and leave one or two cards showing.’ 

-van morrison

came across this journal

tucked into the base of a tree

was it left for someone to find?

was it lost by someone and dropped?

either way i left it undisturbed

to finish out its story.

 

—

‘the true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.’

-isaac asimov

 

when the squirrels have their own picnic table

‘

—

‘there are few things so pleasant as a picnic eaten in perfect comfort.’

• -w somerset maugham

I spent a couple of hours

capturing a year of memories

to make into a  photo book

uploading the photos into one place

creating a cover

putting things in some sort of order

making them make sense

telling  the story of the year 

spacing them to be pleasing to the eye

letting it be less than perfect

just like real life

happy to have the year 

remembered and represented

all in one book

the special price was great

a bonus

 happy with it all

i pushed the order button

and bam!

imagine my surprise

when it was double the price!

they had added in some special metallic effects

some colorization., etc. that I hadn’t asked for

i quickly contacted the company

who I’ve made books with before

and our ‘conversation’ began with a chatbot 

who gave me options that didn’t apply 

after a few back and forths

it passed me on to a human

after a few more back and forths

and yet a few more

then a few more after that

suddenly

they had a change of heart

and miraculously 

they could solve it

 it was almost free at that point

i feel like we were at the point

where they were going to actually pay me

for the honor of buying the book from them

and they sent me the message above.

kind of funny and over the top

but problem solved.

I appreciate them.

—

‘celebrate even small victories.’

-h. jackson brown jr.

 

Happy Birthday to Harper Lee

one of my favorite authors, writer of To Kill A Mockingbird, (her first novel, published in 1960, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize)  which was adapted into one of my favorite films in 1962, and won 3 Academy Awards.

—

‘as you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others,

and don’t think you are the most important being on earth.

rich or poor, you can look anyone in the eye and say,

“I’m probably no better than you, but I’m certainly your equal.’

-‘Atticus Finch’ character from Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee

 

—

photo credit: author, Harper Lee, “To Kill A Mockingbird on set with Mary Badham as “Scout”, 1962, Getty Images

we were all quite amazed and amused

after each ordering an entree

when one of my daughter’s dish arrived

it appeared somehow very different

from all of the rest of ours

big enough to feed at least ten people.

sometimes, you just have to go with it.

—

‘your big opportunity may be right where you are now.’

-napoleon hill, american self-help author