I made the mistake
of telling a weekend guest
something personal.

"Yeah, I went to college;
graduated with a degree in Philosophy."

"You take any Logic classes?"

His eager blurt of this question
had me guarded but I responded affirmatively.

"You remember any of the rules...of logic?"

"Not really."

"Oh c'mon, not even 1?"

"I graduated with that degree
but found poetry
and writing later in life."

"I don't read poetry."

"Well Bukowski is good.
He has a couple interesting novels."

"Oh yeah?"

"Or Vonnegut;
I enjoyed his 'Cat's Cradle'
Chuck Palahniuk who wrote 'Fight Club,'
I'm reading another of his books."

"Yeah, I really don't do poetry."

"But those are...oh forget it."

It's the people who care to ask
that are the same ones
to either be happy you are you
or be interested in
merely proving to themselves once again
that they are better
than the person serving their food.

It's like everything else in life:
a competition.

Better job.
Better car.
Better house.
Better family.
Etc...

I try to be good at what I do
and if I do that
maybe someday it will lead
to something bigger or better
but for now
it's not a competition to me
just survival.

02/21/2010

Posted on 02/21/2010
Copyright © 2026 Jeffrey Parren