In continuing in the ass-backwards tradition of following in my little brothers footsteps (Kev - you are the ultimate trend setter!), I am joining the world of blogs. While I'm not sure it will be nearly as comedic as brother Kevin's, nor as constructively critical of the world of surgery as father Tom's, I hope my own blog will provide an intellectual and sensory potpourri of thoughts to be shared with you, my adoring audience. In perusing the myriad of random thoughts racing through my head for my first post, I've landed on one unique experience I've had over the past couple weeks. Enjoy and continue to tune in....
About a month ago, I arrived home to my apartment in the early evening, around 5:45. The sun was out and it was unseasonably warm. Kids were skateboarding and couples were walking the paths through my apartment complex. When I parked my car, I noticed that someone had thrown eggs at the car next to me, and that it looked like it had been done recently. I shook my head. "Damn kids," I said, before slapping myself in the face for sounding so OLD. Whatever, I'm bald, I have no more fun birthdays left, and these eggs ticked me off.
So what if one of my neighbors actually watched me take my dog out and NOT pick up her poop, then went outside to "double check" (the poop! can you imagine?!) and report me to the apartment office. So what if the guy living upstairs left his washing machine on and somehow dumped all the water down onto MY ceiling and soaked everything. So what if my refrigerator broke after buying 50 bucks worth of meat, seafood and ice cream that went bad. This was about friggin solidarity - no measly prankster kids were going to get away with egging one of MY neighbors cars!!
I dropped my stuff off and took my dog out (all the while looking over my back for the poopy spy!!). I checked the egg on the car and the shells were falling off with ease. This was a nice car. This guys paint was going to be damaged. The eagle scout within me cried out, "Do your good turn daily, damn it!" I gathered some wet paper towels and headed out. Without looking too creepy hovering over this strangers car, I did my best to remove all the shells and sticky egg (keep in my mind that people have written on my car "wash me" about ten times and it has been caked over with even MORE dirt, but thats a different blog post). I did a nice job overall - all but a little yolk came off!
I came inside and wrote a nice little note to the stranger:
To the owner of the Honda:
Unfortunately, somebody egged your car today and since I was not sure of where you lived, I felt compelled to wash the egg of your car myself. I did the best I could but some remained.
Its unfortunate somebody around here did that to your property.
Take care,
Dan - Apt. 13-104
I put the note under his windshield wiper and walked in feeling good that I had done something nice for somebody. Thats what I'm supposed to feel right? I mean, Jesus said that, "“When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth” Well both hands knew what they were doing, but I wasn't going around trying to broadcast what I had done. In fact, I only left a note because I didn't want him being all confused seeing this clean spot on his car with yellow crap all over the ground!
So I left for work every morning seeing this note on the guys car - "wow, I'm sure glad I cleaned that egg off - it surely would be caked on for good," I said after a couple hot days. Then it rained, the note got soaked. Then it got hot again, the note dried out. I could see the ink coming through the other side of the paper when I walked by. Every day, I looked. Every day the car remained in the same exact position, with the note slowly becoming an actual part of the windshield.
Finally, one morning, the note was gone. But the car hadn't moved. Not an inch. There was a storm the night before and I'm sure it was blown away. There is still egg all over the street. Theres still a nice clean spot next to the guys driver side door. But nothing explaining the good deed that brought us all here.
And so, my fellow philosophers, just as one asks, "If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?", so I ask you, "If a man doest alms, and nobody ever receives said alms, what good are the damn alms?!"
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4 comments:
If you had said to me 15 years ago, when we were probably playing Sega Genesis, "someday, Kev...you're gonna read one of my tweets and that'll send you to my first blog post," I'd say, "what the heck are you talking about?"
I was 7...I didn't curse yet.
Awesome to see you started a blog...keep it up dude.
As for your philosophical dilemma, I'll give you my simple input. Having the mindset to do that, whether it's recognized or not, is commendable. Hesitating to do it and having regret about it later is permanent. To not even consider doing that, or anything at all, is arrogant...
With the power of speaking to potentially many people through a blog, raising this question will, if anything, move those in the latter categories toward those in the former. Good deeds are contagious...and I believe that what goes around comes around...even if it takes a long time.
Welcome to the internet.
So about your egg problem... wait, WHAT? Did your post say that your Dad has a blog too?! What's the address, I'll have the whole Whalen clan on my feed reader.
You need to write a blog as the C-Man, too.
BTW KDawg, I'm pretty certain you were cursing at 7. By 10, you were saying 'Pimpin ain't easy'.
Has the car moved yet? Ever consider that the poor owner is dead in an adjacent apartment? Any new unpleasant odors that you have noted?
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