Westside Messenger - June 28th, 2020

PAGE 4 - WESTSIDE MESSENGER - June 28, 2020
Opinion Page
www.columbusmessenger.com
Social distancing is not a big problem for some
Social distancing continues to dominate
every form of today’s daily news. While
seen by many as a totally new concept to
grasp, the reality is it’s nothing more than
common sense that’s always been in the
toolbox of the trained medical world. I
remember using it for stemming kennel
cough and isolating distemper cases when I
worked at the veterinary clinic back in the
1970s. It’s always been lurking behind the
curtain, ready to be put into action when
and if necessary. The coming of COVID-19
was only the instrument that highlighted
that need was now and brought it to the
forefront of our daily headlines and lives.
For most, it’s been a difficult inconvenience
to accept, understand, adjust our
lives to, and then the hardest part, to continue
to adhere to and comply with. For
others, it’s been more of a ho-hum minor
adjustment to a lifelong normal tendency. I
fall into that latter category.
I’ve had a harder time dealing with the
sometimes recommended, sometimes
mandatory, other times not at all, accompanying
face mask ordeal. My recent trip
venturing out of my cave to the department
store, where social distancing potentially
becomes more of an issue, as opposed to the
wide open spaces of being outside, confirms
others have struggled with it too. I’d estimate
maybe 75 percent of the many store
shoppers weren’t wearing a mask. I’ll
admit it’s taking all my willpower to force
myself to continue wearing one in those
obvious social distancing situations. But as
uncomfortable and unnatural as wearing
one is, to this point, I’ve succeeded, with a
little encouragement and threatening from
my wife.
As to the social distancing, I’ve certainly
been directly and indirectly impacted by
the guidelines we’ve been given that are
sometimes inconsistent, often poorly communicated,
changing and too frequently
lacking in clarity for different situations.
But my transition has largely been transparent.
I’ve practiced social distancing to a
higher degree than most people most of my
life. I’ve never been, by what some term as,
‘a people person’. I’ve heard the mumbles
behind my back more than once for much of
my life, “he’s gone to the dogs.” I won’t deny
that. Their good attributes are many and
seem to reach positively far beyond the
human realm. The more I watch the news
and read the smoking insensitive and venomous
comments on social media websites,
the more I appreciate our loyal four-legged
buddies.
I’ve found the older I’ve become, the
more I’ve gravitated to that acceptance
along with the comfort zone it provides me.
Aging has increased my stubbornness
along with my lack of patience and tolerance
for insincerity. My unwillingness to
pretend I’m someone I’m not has all but
disappeared as I realize and accept my long
list of faults seems to have no bounds. As
singer Carly Simon sang in her hit song: “I
haven’t got time for the pain, I haven’t the
room for the pain, I haven’t the need for the
pain.”
No, social distancing has never been a
problem for me, although it undoubtedly
held me back from conquering ego fulfilling
goals that others strive for and literally
compromise their values in exchange for.
They’ll do almost anything to excel. We
nonchalantly lump much of it under the
huge umbrella we call, ‘just playing politics.’
These days, I have difficulty playing
even the basic games of interaction. I don’t
have it in me anymore to look someone in
the eyes, say something, but in my silent
mind mean the complete opposite while
others also do just that to me.
I learned in my youth how mean and
vicious some people can be; I never understood
it. Being burned too many times led
me to try to avoid those situations that put
me at risk of being the object of their mind
and ego fulfilling games. I became uneasy
in many social interactions because I knew
I was being put under the human microscope
for future devious use. I withdrew
and became soft spoken, accepting I’m not
good with the spoken word. I’m too honest
with what I say and think. That’s an error
in today’s social world. I learned much from
that 1964 bestseller book, “The Games
People Play.”
Interacting in the office setting was
always a difficult challenge. I had some
great management and coworkers over my
career, but also those that made every day
a needless ordeal. One of my favorite
movies is the 1999 film, “Office Space,” a
satire on being a worker in today’s corporate
world. Parts of it are all too real, especially
the portrayal of the daily cutthroat
nature of employee career survival in
today’s unforgiving corporate environment.
I don’t miss those days of sitting in the
open office setting with a group of peers
watching your every move. There was
always one disgruntled employee who
would make every day unbearable for
everyone else. I picture Milton, the numbers
cruncher, sitting off in the corner at
his desk always taking mental notes in the
that “Office Space” movie. The unappointed,
but recognized by all, office gossiper,
rumor starter, complainer, never happy,
slacker, the one who always resisted any
change and thought his/her job was to keep
office morale at rock bottom and always
succeeded. The one that management knew
about but refused to deal with.
You might see the same thing in neighborhoods
as in the office setting. If you’re
lucky, over your lifetime you probably had
some great neighbors. I’ve been fortunate
to have many and still do. But over the
years, sometimes a new one might come
along. You receive scowls and looks of distain
and disgust from the first day they
move in along with immediate vibes you
don’t measure up to their expectations.
There’s a clear implication it’s going to be
their way or the highway.
They complain about everything, that’s
their thing. Maybe they talk to other neighbors
behind your back. You can’t decide if
Foot wear has come a long way in nearly 40,000 years
Anthropologists believe humans first
started wearing shoes about 40,000 years
ago, give or take a few thousand years.
Calling those ancient foot coverings
shoes may be a stretch as it is believed they
were animal hides wrapped around the
foot. But that early footwear did its job and
evolved, going from protecting our ancestors’
feet from sharp rocks to our modern
shoes that shield us from stray Lego pieces.
As a kid in the 1960s, I and my neighborhood
cohorts usually had two pairs of
shoes: tennis shoes and dress shoes. Tennis
shoes meant fun and freedom. They were
called tennis shoes even though we wore
them for every activity except playing tennis.
Another name for this type of shoe is
“sneakers.” Today sneakers have branched
out to many different designs with varying
names for many purposes including: running
shoes, walking shoes, basketball
shoes, and so on. There are also I’m sure
tennis shoes made specifically for tennis
these days, too.
Our old tennis shoes were pretty much
some canvas sewed to a slab of rubber, not
like today’s version that aim to support foot
and body. The epitome of tennis shoes back
then were Chuck Taylor Converse, especially
the high tops with the circular logo. If
you had a pair of Chuck Taylors you knew
Editor’s Notebook - By Rick Palsgrove
Guest Column
Dave Burton
they’re really that
petty, immature, or
just bullies.
So, you learn to
just tune those
neighbors out as you
did some office
workers, put them
on social distancing
as you do with social
media when you click on ‘ignore.’ You stop
trying. It’s just not worth the frustration
because they’ll never be satisfied. You
think about telling them to, “be careful
what you wish for (a new neighbor). I’m
certain there are better ones out there, but
just as certain there are more that are even
worse. You might get your wish like we did
and regret it.” Meanwhile, the morale of
the neighborhood wanes like the office setting.
It’s not surprising my preference to prefer
to remain quiet and go my way and let
others do the same has too often been misinterpreted
as, “he’s a snob.” That’s understandable,
but far from reality. I’ve had
many good lifelong friends in all walks of
life. Time has shown they’ve met my stringent,
but basic human attribute requirements
and apparently me theirs. Bottom
line, there’s mutual respect, integrity,
ethics and trust between us that we continue
to nurture and enhance friendship from.
Social distancing will continue to not be
a problem for me. Some I still won’t
approach, with or without the latest and
greatest distancing guidelines, even with a
mask on or off.
Dave Burton is a guest columnist for the
Columbus Messenger Newspapers. He
lives in Grove City.
you had made it.
Dress shoes meant confinement and
structure. They were worn to church and
other formal occasions. We called them
hard shoes because that’s the way they felt.
Where our old tennis shoes could be
tossed in the washer to be cleaned; dress
shoes had to be polished, usually on
Saturday night before the next morning’s
Sunday School class.
Since we were kids and constantly growing,
our parents had to take us to the shoe
store for new shoes to fit our larger feet. No
other store back then had the feel of a shoe
store. A shoe store had unique equipment,
like the metal silver and black measurement
apparatus that gauged the size of
your feet or the smooth metal shoe horn
used to slip one’s foot into an unforgiving,
stiff new dress shoe.
Shoe store clerks were attentive and
serious. It’s like they realized their task
had a scientific element to it with all the
measuring involved, as well as artistic and
physical factors as the shoes had to both
look good and feel good. They embraced the
old saying about understanding a person
by imagining what it’s like to walk a mile
in their shoes.
Rick Palsgrove is managing editor of the
Columbus Messenger Newspapers.