Thursday, April 23, 2015

go with the flow... or struggle against the tide...

I find myself commenting quite a bit on a few sites out on the web lately - can’t really explain it, but they have gotten my attention and I am compelled to participate in their conversation - mostly because I agree strongly in what they have to say... of course... the last time I participated  - the Deringer Files had taken a political turn and I had to shut it down before some one shut me down... but even then I was able to turn many an angry misguided fool to my side of the argument... I turned the tide...

A couple of nights a go I posted a comment on a site (that I have decided to promote) about how I once turned the tide and the vibration of a room with laughter.

Vibration is a feeling - you can feel or sense a mood - that is vibration... you can sense when one is angry and sad and mostly you will avoid that person... and you can pick up on good vibrations and gravitate toward it... because you want to feel good.

As I sat at my favorite burger joint munching on a big fat burger and typing out the comment I had posted on Simon’s site I began to remember another incident and began to chuckle... until the chuckle turned to laughter and I had to stop and compose myself... but then I would think about it and start laughing again - as I  was working on my computer - the people around me assumed I was laughing at something on line... as I laughed I made eye contact with a man that sat with his family in front of me and I said to him... “some people are idiots...” and kept laughing... it must have triggered something in him because he started laughing... and then his wife started laughing... the man agreed out loud with me as they laughed and said what I had said to him in Spanish as an older man walked past us and then he started to chuckle in agreement... and as the old man sat down his light chuckle had turned to laughter and the couple next to him asked - “what is so funny...?” and the old man said - “Stupid people...” and that couple began to laugh... Dash Deringer Strikes again...

The incident I was remembering took place close to thirty years ago - in a small Irish bar in El Paso, Texas... with my now forgotten crew... I believe we had already been drinking when we stumbled in and invaded a table by the door - the place had a long bar along one wall and about ten small tables in total... we sat... and drank... now, that night the place was mostly Mexican and Irish footballers... with a few girls there with their boy-friends... a short while after my crew arrived a group of girls walk in all looking somber and pathetic... but they were all rather cute... we drank and drank until we could  find the right moment to start flirting with them - (I  didn’t know anything about women then...) we knew the Irish at the table next to us and we went back and forth with jokes and insults with them for a while and one of the sad girls gets up from her table that was also next to us - they were in the middle of the room  - and she leans down real serious like to one of our group... the biggest one of us... she leans down close to him and says - “ can you please keep it down... our friend’s father is dying and we don’t really want to hear your conversation...” she slowly... and dramatically turns around to go back to her table... and I start laughing - because back in those days it was usually me that people were asking to shut up!

One of the Irish next to me asked what that was all about and I told him... the waitress came by to check on us... we ordered another round and my friend told her what had just occurred... I said this place was small... the waitress told the bartender and the Irish had spread the word to their left... by the time the waitress came back with our round the whole bar had heard what happened and the place began to get louder... and louder... and louder... we were competing with the boys next to us to see who could have the loudest conversation... Irish and Mexicans being the way they are when they drink... we were all getting a bit rambunctious... the place was about to explode... and looking over at the sad girl table... which everyone was doing to see how they were reacting to the thunder of the crowd... you could see that they were frustrated and annoyed... they just were not going to get sympathy from this crowed... not that night ...  not any night... for I have been to wakes at this bar... and there is no crying there... this was a place for drinking and laughing... and brawling when it calls for it... our vibration was stronger than theirs and there was no way in hell we where going to let a bunch of sad white college girls bring us down... oh... did I mention that... they were a bunch of white college girls...

Well... being the drunk prick that I was back in those days - as opposed to the somewhat sober ass-hole that I am today - I figured... fuck it... some one has to say it... it might as well be me... so I stood up and said what everyone in the bar was thinking... “ Yo!!!  Fucking idiot... your father’s dying and you’re in a fucking bar drinking with your girl friends...? what the fuck!?!... you’re over there crying about ‘my father’s dying and so many thing I want to say to him...’ take your dumb ass to the hospital and be by his side... and tell him” the room had gone still - and I continued - “Jesus! At least go to a church and light a candle a pray for his fucking soul... but what the fuck are you doing here...”

the sad girls stared at me in disbelief... and the one whose father was dying had tears in her eyes and was red in the face... the room erupted in laughter - the Irish next to us were on the ground and my table was about to follow their lead when the girls all got up - one by one and single file they marched out with as much dignity and pride that only sorority girls can summon up in a situation such as this and made their way past us... and the room laughed... with a few “waaa!!! my father’s dying... I can’t drink with all this noise... my father’s dying...” echoing from the heartless drunkards that we were... as the last of the girls passed me - and she was the cutest of them all by far... one of the Irish kids that was next to me reached out to grab her arm and said - “Hey baby girl... your dad’s not dying too is he... cuz you can stay here with us if ye like...” she jerks her arm away from him and turns to look at me with that  - this is all your fault look  - and pushes me so hard that I fall back on our table... and the room loses control again... we win... and once they had gone... the room returned to a nice peaceful and relaxed mood... but every now and then some one would yell out something like - “my father’s dying - which one of you fuckers is going to buy me a tequila...” or “ Bartender! Me father’s gonna die one day... how ‘bout a round for me table on the house!” 

People are stupid and common sense is fading fast in the western world... but you can go with the flow or struggle against the tide... I came to the conclusion, not so long ago, that it was in my best interest to remove my self from the equation... but I am starting to get the feeling that perhaps the tide is changing... and... it might just be time to get back into the fight... as my Irish friends would tell me in a bar brawl - that would have nothing to do with us... “If  I  fall... pick me up and throw me back in...”

No comments: