It's for the Birds!

After depositing a check in my account, I walked out of the bank thinking about all the money I didn’t have. A couple of steps farther into the walk, still thinking how much it sucked, I captured the image of an eagle nosed lady with twisted legs and a hunched Quasimodo back. My eyes were weary and puffy, perhaps caused by the heat of the summer afternoon. I stopped to catch my breath. Leaning on the walls of the nearest building, I turned my head slightly to the left. I had to confirm what I had just seen because part of me could not believe that in the middle of Madison Avenue something of that nature could be unfolding. That lady was rummaging through a gigantic pile of garbage. She was frantically breaking all the plastic bags and collecting the foods the restaurant had just thrown out. Just thrown out? Really? For all I know the decayed and disgusting cuisine had been in the garbage for a few days already. Who knows!
I stayed on that wall fighting off the tears which rushed into my eyes. I was just thinking and silently trying to sort things out. I was contemplating life’s uncertainties and unfairness. Finally, I screamed out. “Shit, there is something wrong with this picture!” I looked again and the lady was still frenetically going through her precious cargo loading bread, ziti and other pasta dishes into her hand container and a long plastic shoulder bag.
One of the restaurant’s employees came out to reprimand her actions. I was still too far to hear the actual conversation but the body language was enough for me to know he did not approve of her breaking all those plastic bags. At this point, I pulled off the wall and immediately reached into my pocket. I found a $20 bill. In fact, it was the only $20 dollars I had. I headed to confront the insensitive employee and to offer all the money I had to this “needed lady”.
I had just walked a few steps and the employee took off in the opposite direction.
The lady started to walk my way. I stopped discreetly and waited for her. When she was close enough, I pulled out the $20 bill and held it in my hands. She passed by my side still carrying on her left shoulder that clear plastic shoulder-bag filled with bread. On her right hand she carried that greasy and saucy pasta container.
As we locked eyes, I could see her pain but failed to see her deeply rooted pride.
“It’s for the birds!” She said.
I looked at her and replied, “Excuse me?”
We walked side by side for a few seconds. That’s when I extended the $20 bill to her. She looked at me like I had three eyes. There was no hesitation in her response and definitely no flinching in her actions. Her face remained expressionless for a few seconds and out of her mouth only a few words came out to calm what she thought was a condescending act on my part. “I don’t need it! I am fine!”
I insisted that she take the $20 bill; but she walked away from me. A few minutes later, I was sitting at my desk baffled and thinking about the moral to this story.

© Daniell Fedrón August 24, 2007
All Rights Reserved

Split Me Not

SPLIT ME NOT

Let’s face it, when it comes to shelling out your allocated part of that bill all sense of fairness is either forgotten or thrown out to hell. Seriously, if you think hard, you will more than likely agree with this concept. Search deep in your mind and you will be able to cite more than one occasion when you had to pay a large portion of someone else’s bill. You my friend, as well as many other people, have been victimized by the system of misappropriation of funds.
I remember at least a few instances when I was invited to go out with a select group of friends for drinks. Of course, innocently I ordered a beer. While across the table fifteen individuals of both sexes indulged themselves by ordering exotic drinks and huge portions of appetizing dishes. A perfect case whereby being a social drinker and an aspiring anorexic will place you in a disadvantageous position.
Looking around, I noticed that an hour had elapsed yet I had not completely imbibed my beer. Others were ahead of the game, by far. They had already voraciously devoured their food and even though the drinks were two for the price of one until
7:00 PM, guess what? It was already 8:00 PM and those Bacchants were still ordering drinks nonstop.
The moment of truth arrived for me by nine o’clock. Some of the others were wrapping things up and some smart alley cat decided to call for the bill. The printed numbers on that strip of paper couldn’t lie. Those gremlins had consumed over five hundred dollars. My eyes popped as I closely scanned the figure. “Damn!” Come to think of it, I thought nothing of it until someone from the other end of the table recalled the check and split it into equal shares. “Come on! You have to be f**** kidding me!”
Sorry, I reserve the right to express myself in these shocking terms, but that was all I could say at the time simply because, at most, my portion of the bill couldn’t have been more than ten bucks with the tips included. Instead I was hit and was expected to pay for a huge piece of a pie that I had neither tasted nor consumed. I thought I had every right to be pissed.
But, there was a lesson to be learned, and I my friend learned it quickly. There were steps to be taken the next time I accepted to hang out with this so-called elite group of people. That night, I noticed how a rebel woman blatantly refused to fall into that trap. She simply paid for her drink and quickly vanished into the night.
“Is there no fairness?” She uttered as she pushed me out of her way. In my mind I recanted her bitter statement, but quickly granted her words asylum. Perhaps she was right. Fairness shouldn’t be a word in the dictionary. Blind fools often pretend they don’t know the rules, and take advantage of kind-hearted people who have failed to erect an unbreakable barrier to protect themselves.
As for me, I realized there was a hefty price to pay for being inducted into This Elite Hall of Shame whose members had undoubtedly mastered the art of deceit by graduating from the school of hard knots while building an extensive knowledge base camouflaged in the streets.

© Daniell Fedron July, 2007
All Rights Reserved

Just Talk

JUST TALK Daniell Fedrón
June 6, 2007


If there is anything we should have learned from life is that no relationship is perfect. We have to learn to deal with imperfections and idiosyncrasies coming from both sides and rising to more than one level. For those of us who have the patience, tolerance and resistance to withstand these tests of nature the rewards are waiting to be harvested. On the other hand, those who don’t even try or are trying withholding in the back of their minds their true desire to make their relations work the end of the rainbow will not reveal the golden treasure but will without a doubt spell disaster. Let’s face it building a relationship takes lots of hard work. Opps! There goes that dream of one hundred percent comparability.
“Time heals all.” This is an old maxim heard by most people by now, but does it really heal all? If it did we would not be relying so much on our past experiences to build our present and new ones. Rather than waiting for time to heal us, may be we should be sorting out or dismantling the building whose foundation was erected under false and erroneous pretenses. Who would be better than you to know what is sincere and what constitute a fully concocted potion of treachery and malicious premeditation.
Eventually, love will conquer all for it radiates that aura of sincerity needed to combat and destroy most if not all the negative variables permeating daily through our minds. The bare essentials of our lives as a team rest on establishing a strong, healthy and trustworthy relationship. That is, something that will not be shaken up or withered by time. At the top of the ranks should be respect. If we don’t have it for one another then close the chapter on the book and move on. Understanding and care for each other are but two crucial pieces in an incomplete puzzle. Ultimately, there should be no room for jealousy, control, blame, disbelief, sarcasm, criticism, threats and insults. These few components will always be present in unhealthy and seriously deteriorated relationship, those that have passed the “point of no return.”
In essence, the roads we have traveled should hold the key and unveiled the answers. It doesn’t matter how well educated we are. It matters even less that we visit our therapist a zillion times and flood the rivers with our tears. Good old common sense, gardens full of roses, love notes, lots of kisses and many more hugs, a healthy sex life, breaking the communication barrier, simply adjusting our own rules and our sole desire and commitment to make it will determine if our relationships will stick it and cross the finish line. “Together until the end of time.”
All will require a collective effort that could spin our heads in an emotional rollercoaster but will pay its dividends in the end. Now let’s not forget that somewhere along the line, divine intervention is always a plus. It’ll help us cope with the dissolution and the disgust that will embalm our soul if the love we struggled to build suddenly, takes a plunge.

Copyright © 2007 by Daniell Fedron