Ashlandsblog

“I didn’t know it was anything wrong,” says he. Everyone talks with a tone drawn from a certain central theme in their life. My sister identified mine as, according to her, the tone and base of someone always insufferably self-advocating. And that’s true, what’s wrong with that? Should I not make it explicitly clear at all times that—oh well, everyone has a certain theme.

My favorite customer, although sometimes he makes me question that title, has a chronic case of always being the “biggest person in the room.” He knows better, he feels more, he is going to lead, he’s the reasonable one.

The other one is poorly cracking jokes, or even his menial recall of the day is arm in arm with a base of laughter. As if everyone’s supposed to find him amusing or funny. But it’s not so, now it reads more like the ghost of his dead stand-up comedy career haunting his life and dialogue.

My oblivious friend tells me a story about what he did. And when I question the morality of the situation, he says he had no idea it was a bad thing to do. He’s oblivious, but somehow someone managed to follow a 15-step sequence of what a bad guy would do in a certain situation. Without practice. How crazy. If only he was cluelessly able to do the good guy things. A mind built to protect itself from blame. You’ll find most guys resort to this. A costume of innocence.

At least we can thank God those people eventually find someone just as bad, and it devastates them back into our shared reality.