So you can relate, let me paint the peopled scene-
We have all walked into a crowded room, where strangers try to keep their space all to themselves, even after you enter more keep filing in, and you look around at these faces of strangers not quite petals of the same flower, but blooms of beings nonetheless and all there under the ultra-violet lamps at this specific time because we were supposed to be by some higher command they all seem strange to you before you realize you are stranger too. And yet you may try to gravitate toward gender or age or smell or smile, yet you will find no profile lined out the same in these stark unforgiving lights. Similarly, you are proud to be just you, the only one, all the same, just like all of them.
In this room, all are equal, and equally free-to leave. Those that forgot their patience do. None notice, except billing I am sure. Don't be fooled, there is no order. The priority changes moment to moment. Everyone is waiting to be seen, indivisibly, for special attention, their time in the headlamps. To bide the time you may notice they often congregate and speculate all the while they wait for answers in a room full of multiple choices. By process of elimination, big choices become clear. It is the same test we are all taking. Some will pass. Some will fail to see and often tend to obtain a second opinion-if it matches their own.
Some, like me, will read all of the fine print, disclaimer, directions,opinion, by case studies and percentages and try to remember all of my high and low numbers like social insecurity and insurance-against what-there were no guarantees-should I change my plan-what good is a health plan, can we plan health-I guess-we do what we can and then get sick, or injured, or confused...
Vividly-
You can see it over there, right where everyone else can see too. Eye level on the hallway wall, per the OSHA requirements, an oversized poster that reads in sweeping bold cursive letters "US Constitution", and if you squint you can just make out in the first row, like an eye test, it says Union and in the second-row you can see the images of Tranquility and Blessings...hmmm, sounds like a nice policy.
Adjacent to that is the Emergency Exit door where it says
Smile,
you are on Camera' and 'Alarm will Sound'...I wonder what the alarm will sound like-a warning? Impishly before my name is called and I act like it's not my name, I scan the room, skipping over faces and wrong names. Not moving instead, I pull out a book and read.
After overly admiring some mass replication artwork of pastorals on the walls, about an hour or so later, I notice the words public Trust. I finally rise and I walk casually out the front door feeling significantly better being outside. I look back at the sign where it says Welcome or Closed, depending on which side you're on.
Image By Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
