Hospital waiting room

 

Hayter for January 29, 2023

“A waiting room experience”

            I didn’t intend to start our visit until later this afternoon, but I needed something to do while waiting on Kay. She’s having cataract surgery. I should know which eyeball it is, but I’m a man. Men’s brains don’t store things well.

            I do know that Kay’s eye that there messing with, is the one without astigmatism. They’ll do that eye on our next visit. When I asked Kay about her bad eye, she said she had interocular astigmatism. I said, “Oh, yeah, that one.”

            You may know this, but when you age, stuff starts happening to you. Women seem to catch on to what’s happening to them. Men? Well, I can’t speak for all of them, but I generally wait until Kay tells me I need to see a doctor. I think that’s why there are so many widows.

            The nurse took Kay away about an hour ago, leaving me in this nice waiting room. It’s a large area broken up by alcoves and furniture that’s well placed so you don’t have somebody staring right at you from four feet away.

            I wish you’d listen to the lady at the registration desk? That woman has the most pleasant disposition of anyone who ever worked at the entrance of any hospital. She’s fielded questions of every nature. Most people were kind, but some were quite upset. It would be very difficult for even an angry person to blow their stack in front of that lady. If it happened in front of me, the guy would end up having to remove his foot from my rear, because I would confront him.

            The lady talking on her cell over there by the couch is not quite as considerate. She’s had her phone on speaker since the moment I arrived. She has addressed several home and business problems since I’ve been here. 

            She’s been walking around and talking up a storm. She is yet to enter my space which is good because I can easily become the son of my father. Dad didn’t suffer rude people well. The lady talks so loud you’d think she was in a bus terminal. – I’m guessing bus terminals are loud.

            Now that I’ve got you upset with the lady, I’m already over it. I’ve been reading up on how to lose your anger by transferring it. All you do is zone out.  I’ll bet I’m hard for you to see right now.

            Since I’m over that inconsiderate nabob, I’ve gotta tell you about the coffee machine. It is the best I’ve ever used. Look across the room, just past the inconsiderate loud lady. See the dark-coffee-colored contraption that’s the shape of a tall two-door refrigerator? It’s a coffee machine.

            When I showed up I only saw one guy using it. I think he’s the only one who knew what it was. There’s no sign or bright light to entice you. There are just two little trays in the middle

and a small, dim light close by. I eventually got up enough nerve to go visit it. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. I did find some cups and set one on a tray.

            Then I pushed the dim light and Hoochie Mama! There were at least 10 lit rectangles with pictures displaying different coffee-like drinks. Only one of them was labeled “coffee”. Among the others were cappuccino, latte, espresso, frappuccino, and a lot of other names that end in “o”. 

            I pushed the latte button and waited. Nothing. About that time, God sent over an old man who grabbed a cup and stood next to me. “Do you know what you’re doing?” That guy took me through the entire procedure. After he showed me, it was easy. Of course, I’m a fast learner. – Beg pardon?

            “Mark! Mark Hayter!”

            Whoa, that’s gotta be for me. Wait here and I’ll--. “Mr. Hayter, would you like to come back and visit your wife?”

            That woman must be the sister of the walking, talking cell phone lady. Look, y’all go grab that nice guy in the chair yonder and drag him to the coffee machine. He’ll show you how it’s done. I’ll be back in a bit. – An hour or so later.

            I’m sorry I left you hanging. I went ahead and got the car and drove Kay home. I hope you liked the coffee. Wasn’t that man nice? I believe there are many more kind people in the world than mean and inconsiderate people. I need to keep reminding myself of that.

What? Oh, I meant to tell you. Kay’s doing fine. I won’t make you show up during her interocular astigmatism procedure. Me? I’m eager to revisit the coffee machine.

end

hayter.mark@gmail.com

A Time to Every Season

 

Hayter for January 22, 2023

“After the pain went away, I saw the light.”

          I’m not a fan of pain. Oh, there have been times when I wished I was too sick to go to school, work, or church. I don’t need excuses for the first two of those anymore, but I can still conger up dread on a Sunday morning.

I must assume that there are preachers who, on occasion, wish they were too sick to go to church. It doesn’t mean they’re going to hell in a basket. It means that most of them are human.

But, let’s get away from church. I mean the topic of church. If you’re in church now, stay there. And, if you are there now, what the sam hill are you doing reading the newspaper? Mom would pinch my leg so hard!

But, forget Mom and forget church if you can. It’s “pain” that caused this article to happen. For the last two weeks, I’ve had some barbed, calcified, stones in my kidneys trying to exit through too-narrow an opening. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to me, because it’s happened several times in the past and, given time, will happen again.

          My recent bout with kidney stones caused me to think about the lyrics to Pete Seeger's song “Turn, Turn, Turn”, a song made popular by the Byrds. While Seeger wrote the tune, he borrowed the lyrics from Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, a book credited to Solomon. I thought Solomon showed kindness in not suing Seeger for borrowing his lyrics without permission.

          Chapter three starts with the words “To everything, there is a season and time for every purpose under heaven.”  The rest of the book is depressing as all get-out. A good friend of mine, John Meridith, told me that it is his favorite book in the Bible.

John was a hippy back in the day, so I thought perhaps he was still influenced by his experiences in college. How could he find appreciation in the writings of the wisest man on the planet, a person who wrote things like, “For I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was distressing to me, for everything is futility and striving after wind.” -- Try to dance to that tune.

It was my most recent ‘stint” with constant pain, that caused me to recall the thoughts of the supposed wisest, richest person in the world. The thought of Solomon has never crossed my mind while in pain. But, this morning? This morning, my pain was gone, and I sensed only the good things in life. I knew that Kay really loves me because she did all she could to make things easier for me… except for letting me swallow my entire bottle of pain pills

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon confessed that, though he had been the richest and most respected person in the world, a person with 1000-plus women at his beck and call, a person with the greatest chefs, the most beautiful palaces, and people lined up to listen to whatever he had to say.

Yet no matter how much he may have wished to stay, Solomon left the building and, he said, that “his spirit returned to God, Who gave it to him. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”

That’s one whale of a message to leave behind. What are we supposed to do with that? Solomon didn’t give any specific suggestions. He merely stated what he considered to be a fact of life. Well, this morning, what his “fact” did was cause me to think about two particular friends of mine.

Tracy Cross, Kay’s younger brother, was born with what is known as brittle bone disease. At the age of one, the kid broke his leg by sitting down on his dad’s foot. Over the years, he went from a wheelchair to a walker, to another wheelchair. There is no telling how many times the guy went to sleep in tears.

I wrote an article about him recently. The kid had the greatest sense of humor of anyone I’ve ever known. He was a lead guitarist in several bands. He was kind, well-loved, and caring.

A couple of years back, he died at the age of 68, as a result of COVID. He was God’s gift to so many. I loved him dearly and miss him a bunch. And Kay is still participating in grief share classes as a result of his passing. In a couple of generations, Tracy will be forgotten. But, I believe that God’s purpose for him continues in the lives of friends and relatives who were indirectly guided by his example.

The second person, I choose to mention is John Meredith, my friend who, unbeknownst to him, got me to thinking about Ecclesiastes early this morning. John interpreted one of the last verses in chapter three of the book, in a way that I never grasped until now. Solomon wrote “I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities (in life) because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?”

The activity my friend apparently enjoys most in life, is getting involved in helping people. He is the kindest, most active, most benevolent person I know. He’s been recognized in local newspapers throughout the county.

Pete Seeger started “Turn, Turn, Turn, off with the first verse of chapter three. -- “To everything, there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven…”

John read, what I considered to be one of the most depressing books in the bible, and came to the conclusion that one of his purposes in life was to help others. Without a doubt, I am continually blessed by the inspiration that both of them continue to provide to me.

end

A scarcity of the most powerful thing in the world

 

Hayter for Jan 15, 2023

“The greatest and scariest force on the planet”

            I’ll have you know that the year 2022 led me to discover the most powerful thing in the world. And, get this, it can be fairly easy to obtain.

            Any guesses? – No, “family” is important, but family members can really mess you up. Religion? Yes, religions are great, yet they’ve caused more wars on this planet than anything else. Of course, most of the conflict is not caused by the religions themselves, but by the interpretation of the faithful. -- Okay, that’s enough guessing. What say we back away from the subject of religion?

            Through my careful study, I found only one powerful thing that holds all societies together. And, it’s the same thing that can rip this world apart. Ready? -- “Trust.” -- That’s it.

If you have little trust in your religion, family, friends, governmental representatives, grocery chain, mechanic, toilet flushing device, TV remote, and everything else, well, then you’re in a bad way.

            If you ask me, we were in a bad way last year. And there is every indication that 2023 will be no better. How can it be? We keep using the same useless criteria to solve the same bad situations. I may not be the sharpest pencil in the egg carton, but I have learned that if we keep applying the same baseless solutions to the same issues, some of us might need to move to Canada. Just don’t let the Canucks know we’re coming.

            Before half of us pack up for the northward trip, let’s visit the word “TRUST”. Trust can help you improve the lives of others or steal the drawers of others. I’ve experienced both of those occurrences.

For example, I’ve had several mechanics take me to the cleaners. Yet, I currently have one who has earned my trust and belief in my fellow man. And woman. -- I just don’t have that many fellow women.

            If you win someone’s trust, be it through the use of kindness or trickery, you have in your possession some serious influence. Take George Bailey for instance. That guy was the salt of the earth. Without realizing it, Jimmy Stewart, I mean George Bailey, earned the trust of everyone in Bedford Falls. Even Mr. Potter. -- Whatta jerk.

            Mr. Potter was a man not to be trusted. He decided to make money by playing off the townspeople's trust in good ol’ George. If he could ruin George’s reputation, he would be better able to get the people to agree with him on issues.

It is our naivety and laziness that makes it so easy for the distrustful to take advantage of us. When we have little trust in others, we choose to trust in the opinions of those who share our own.

            It’s so much easier to take advantage of a person who trusts his notions over facts. Have you noticed how much smaller the cans of soup are? I was beginning to think my hands were getting larger. No worries. You may not be getting as much soup, but the price per can hasn’t gone up much.

Too many entrepreneurs and politicians take us for saps. Do you know why? Because we’re saps. We are so easily tricked. Of course, politically speaking, the word “trick” died with Richard Nixon. Nowadays, we’re more scammed than tricked. The word “scam” hit the Dictionary of Slang in 1963. Had I known there was a dictionary of slang, my articles would’ve had more flair. More something.

Regardless, I trust you know what a scam is. It involves ill-founded trust. Did you see the movie “The Sting”? That’s a scam. Most scams are not nearly that difficult to pull off. There are so many scammers out there that I no longer trust non-scammers. I’ve had a couple of young men try to sell me solar panels for the house. The government will practically pay for everything. County, State, National… I don’t know which government? Maybe all of ‘em.

I asked each of the solar panel salesmen for some printed info, but neither had thought to bring any. I asked if they had been to my neighbor’s house. Neither of them had. I’m fairly certain she’s already bought some solar panels. I really do hope she didn’t get taken.

 She’s easily taken. For example, she fell for the story about a certain presidential candidate being involved in a child sex ring in a Pizzaria in D.C. A couple of you who chose to investigate will remember the guy, who after reading about the children, fired his AK-47 inside the pizzeria, and demanded to know where the molested children were kept. The man innocently trusted the wrong news source. 

The same news outlet also reported that the Pope had been arrested by the FBI for child pornography and human trafficking. The same outfit continues to publish equally ridiculous scenarios, yet, my neighbor chooses to believe each one of them.

In other words, she has placed her trust in the “Source of the Story” not the absurdity of the story. That’s one dangerous person. I fear there are many like her. People who have chosen to trust anything bad about someone they don’t trust. Just try to get someone like that to listen to reason.

Yep, “trust” in the hands of a fool is dangerous as all get out. And, in the hands of a malcontent, it can become the most powerful weapon on the planet. 

 end

hayter.mark@gmail.com