#624 Just Obvious

I seem to be cursed with a sense of the obvious. Parts of my mind immediately jump to the retrospectively obvious conclusion. I say retrospectively because not everyone sees it as obvious, including me, until my twisted brain points it out.
Take this little news snippet. If China’s growth continues at its current pace, their consumer market will be the world’s second largest by 2015.
They already eat 32 percent of the world’s rice, use 47 percent of the cement, and smoke one out of every three cigarettes.
My first thought was, not for long. That kind of smoking ought to get their population to taper off real soon.
Or the other day I was driving behind a Dodge Ram.
I’m bopping along like I sometimes do, listening to music and unconsciously singing and muttering and I hear myself saying over and over: Which is it? Which is it?
So I ask: Why am I saying “which is it?”
I figure my subconscious is trying to tell me something, so I look around and finally focus on the vehicle in front of me with the competing logos that say Dodge and Ram.
And I see what my subconscious is saying. Which is it? Dodge or Ram, dodge or ram? Are you avoiding it or are you meeting it head on? Dodge... or ram?
The really sad thing is, I never saw something so completely obvious before. And my subconscious is twisted too.
The next day I’m driving downtown and they’ve put up a new one of those banners over State Street that tell people things they need to do like avoid bicyclists and steward salmon and stuff.
This sign says, “Help prevent flooding, rake a drain.” And I think, that’s a commendable enterprise.
Then I read the bottom of the banner and it says, “Public Works, Working for You.”
And my brain screams out, Not this time. If I rake a drain, I’m working for You.
America, ya gotta love it