Common as...
a penny; it is appalling.
No, not that lady you know who’s name is Penny, she’s cool! What I am speaking of is the round, copper plated, Lincoln faced, zinc weighted penny. Speaking of zinc, it is great for any type of skin affliction imaginable, topically or internally applied. Also great as sunblock.
Moving on, penny: The one cent piece, or one sent peace, or one scent peas. Have you ever tried to smell peas? Me either, imagine it smells quite green.
It is $0.01 parts of a dolla’, not the musician. The dollar, the thing that pays for all the things. The thing we spend our lives trying so hard to get, keep, and use to make life better. That thing I am working for, in this moment, to keep and encourage the Not Me to relinquish into my common, cold, poorly manicured hands. Yes, unashamedly, I ask for your hard earned money for the pleasure and laughter that will come from reading about what I ponder and then try to expound in words to others. It’s gross…but only hurts me, right?
Who raised me?? NO ONE!! If I told you, I would have to enter witness protection as I am blessed to still have the memory of these poor souls to carry.
What I am is common, simple, literal and obtuse. One in 7 billion, or is it eight now? Those things also describe the thing we are regularly throwing away, ignoring, and I heard a rumor that it may be removed from circulation, the penny. If I do anything with rumors, it’s believe them unconditionally and take no action whatsoever to alter my actions…because….remember before? I’m common. But maybe, I hope, maybe, I wonder, maybe I can dig deep and find some strength to do THE THING.
THE THING: yes, change. Not like the penny but instead like into a “better person” or to have a different life or to somehow be less common. As of today, it has not happened in any way other than the way it has. Trust me, I tried and despite my fervent longing to see my past as having happened differently, it didn’t.
Today, among many other days, it hits home, which, as I have been told so often: hitting is wrong!! DONT DO THAT! Also, I do NOT know what it means to be BETTER. Not only do I not know, I am not entirely sure I want to know. Who is deciding this? Who decides when I have arrived at “better person”? Is it a destination? Is it an accusation? What is the purpose of these two simple, common words in the jumble of day to day interactions? What makes this one better than that one? Persons being what they are and people knowing what they know, could we all just stop a second? Stop and ponder? What if I (or that person who is rolling their eyes and confirming deep in their souls they’d rather just keep their money, thank you!) just don’t have it today to be, the “better person”? What if, everyday, it doesn’t exist within me to choose better or differently than I usually do or have done so often? What if, change is best left in a pocket or on the ground rather than built into the fundamental core of my existence? Change is SCARY!!
As I round out the bottom of my common existence today and take a look in my pockets, listen to the sirens blaring down the street, and conclude that maybe instead of wondering how to be a “better person”, I could wonder how to be just like the penny I am so determined to ignore: honest, tolerant, functional, and yet to retire… you’re welcome.