So do you ever have one of those moments when the world just slows down for you in order to see something just a enough for it to make an impact on you….You know what I mean, say Hmmm, or What the heck? I find myself having more and more of those these days. The latest, really made me question mankind and why our species isn’t extinct.
Forget the fact that we are the most advanced species that Earth has ever seen, with the ability to think and reason on our own, have feelings in addition to the primal ones, utilize aposable thumbs, quite FRANK-LY we can really be stupid.
So let me set the scene. It is about 3 pm at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York(http://www.turningstone.com/). I was there for my actual paying job getting ready to set up for a show. As the white noise of the hotel began to engulf me, clanging of slot machines, dealers chatting it up, cocktail waitresses asking for drinks, I stopped to make sure I was walking toward the convention center. My eyes, looking down at the solid strip of carpet began to move up slowly to look for signage to point me in the right direction. The first sign that I saw was one that is getting more and more common these days, “This is a Non-smoking area, Thank you.” It was placed just before a slot machine section toward the first row of the action, on the main entrance way into the casino. My thought was, “they won’t even let you smoke in a hotbed of sin like this, were can you smoke?” Then, the sign began to blur and my eyes moved on to catch a large puff of smoke rising above it. Was it my body internally combusting? No. Was it a slot machine getting ready to blow up, only to have it hit the triple jackpot as I stand before it looking for directions? No. Snoop Dogg? No. It was a blond women, roughly in her mid to late 30’s, sitting in a chair next to the no smoking sign and her father. Her father was in the chair next to her, feeding the nickel slot. When I noticed, the man was hooked up to an OXYGEN TANK. So let’s recap. Do not smoke sign, check. Sign violator, check. Sign violator with dear old dad, attempting to rush him to his maker, check.
I mean seriously, I would have loved to see the look on my face as I came across this scene. The surreal moment left me scratching my head. How can a species who went to the moon, invented the Internet, computers, the wheel, fire(an underlying issue of the problem at hand), eBay and TiVO, be the same idiots that can’t read a sign next to their father who looks like he and the grim reaper could have lunch any minute now. So, your probably asking, Jon you were in a casino, how do you know she was related, she could have been an escort? Yes, that is true, but I heard her say, “Dad, do you need me to push the chair up so you can reach the lever?”
I am in no way perfect, but doesn’t that just make you wonder…
Posted by jfrank1529 