More On That Dude From Yesterday's Smack-Down At The Gas Station Chicken Store

The Dude who barged in to pay for gas, expecting everyone to drop what they were doing, and serve him, right then, because he waved a $20 bill... was the subject of conversation as The Pony and I gathered our respective lunches in the Mansion kitchen a half-hour later.

"You should have seen it! She put that Dude in his place! He was probably about 25, or 28. He was one of YOUR people, Pony."

"Uh uh. He was one of GENIUS'S people!"

"You've got something there. You are correct. And not just because of the age. Genius's people ARE just like that! So ENTITLED! Everybody owes them something. They're SO special! Drop what you're doing, and make sure their needs are met.

YOUR people, on the other hand, are meek. You don't stand out. You need your safe space, and a crying closet, and don't really care about much of anything. So I'm sorry. It was not YOUR people, but GENIUS'S people, who got smacked down today at The Gas Station Chicken Store."

Funny how different those two groups are, despite being so close in age. There's a 4-year gap between Genius and The Pony. Genius is going to be 26 in December, and The Pony turned 22 in February. I can even think back to when I was working, and how the students in their respective classes also fit this generalization. 

Genius's group was of the Everyone's a Winner era. It arrived near their 6th-grade year. A trophy for all, or a trophy for none. Being congratulated for achieving mediocrity, and excused for failure, so as not to hurt their feelings. A squadron of squeaky wheels, each striving to be noticed, since no individual awards (or punishments) would be forthcoming.

The Pony's group was herded along, homogenized, all-inclusive, with slots reamed out to fit one and all pegs. They might as well have been the tiny plastic people in The Game of Life, but with a few purple ones sprinkled in amid the pink and blue. They had seen the future, and it was smooth sailing. Go along, get along, don't rock the boat, it only gets all the passengers wet, and doesn't get you to your destination any sooner. Slow and steady, wait for the slowest to catch up, and eventually you'll get there, having forgotten the purpose of your voyage.

 

In the Sea of Life, Genius's people are thrashing and splashing, screaming for acknowledgment. The Pony's people drift along in the life-saving dead-man's-float survival position, going where the current takes them.