Conversation overheard at a Florida restaurant:
Tourist 1: “We need to find a gift shop that sells pretty shells.”
Tourist 1: “I already have two souvenir tar balls. I’m not picking up any shells that have oil on them.”
Every seashell has its own Moonlight Sonata, whether it’s waltzing in a store window or not.
“Look up. Look down. Look all the way around. Your pants are falling down!”
Little kids used to chant this on the playground and then run away laughing their heads off. It was the equivalent of today’s “made you look.”
It’s what national news sources make us do every day.
Homes are selling. Homes aren’t selling. Homes are kind of selling.
Employment is up. Employment is down.
A medicine works. A medicine sometimes works.
BP’s oil spill isn’t so bad. BP’s oil spill is really bad.
Insurance companies have us covered. Insurance companies have themselves covered.
It’s going to be a long summer, I can tell already.
I better go buy a belt or two. At least retailers are doing well.
Right?
No website tapping your mind for crowdsourcing solutions.
No text messages urging you to read grim, what-if computer models.
Imagine being blindsided by a seagull floating toward you, mired in oil - lungs filled with it, eyes shut by it.
No different than today.
Even with our worshipped social media tools of 2010, we are still blindsided, and with a lot less reasons to explain why.
