Today I went to lunch with my Irish teacher, the native Irish speaker, and the president of the Shamrock Club. The conversation was in English, since the president of the Shamrock Club doesn't know any Irish. He was saying that the club was very lively in the 70's, many decades before he joined, but now we're just limping along. (I'm in the club too, so he knows me.) Then this evening I zoomed into a meeting at the East Side Club to discuss its future because the membership is dwindling and aging. Why are people abandoning clubs? Someone on Night Prayer said it's the same way with his Knights of Columbus group: the only active members are getting on in age. He said it's because of social media, but I feel like people are just so much busier these days that only retired people can participate actively in clubs. Were people less busy a few decades ago, so that people in their prime working years still had time to volunteer at clubs? They say Millennials complain about loneliness, but they don't participate in the things that used to bring people together, like clubs and religious organizations. Is this a self-inflicted wound because they are all watching TikTok videos? Or is there really something going on with society that we have no free time left to go to clubs and to church?
Travalon told me today a guy came from the Department of Workforce Development to talk to the kids about working. They got to wear hard hats and safety glasses and high-vis vests, and they loved it! Why not? My high-vis vest makes me feel important. I've heard people say if you wear one, they will let you backstage at rock concerts or let you wander onto the scene of traffic accidents. Not sure if that's true, since I only use mine for walking after dark, but I said I should wear it to work to seem more important. Travalon said sure, it's dangerous there, I may crunch numbers, but what if the numbers crunched me?? After I stopped laughing, I said the thing most likely to kill me at work is our building, and it probably wouldn't respect my high-vis vest: "Yes, I see you in that chartreuse and day-glo orange vest, and that just makes you an easier target to drop a chunk of cement on your head." For old times' sake, here's the photo of me in my high-vis vest:
This is like a little kid's fantasy of what they want to be when they grow up: "I want to be an important worker and wear a high-vis vest, and I want to wear tall boots so I can jump in muddy puddles, and I want to be a unicorn!" So I'm Bob the Builder and Peppa Pig and a unicorn all rolled into one! Being an adult is fantastic!
Famous Hat
No comments:
Post a Comment