Month: January 2017

Redistribution

/ agarrabrant / 3 Comments

Almost half these souls today

Standing queued at the SSA

Voted for that jaundiced bloke

Who has promised to revoke

The services they’re here to get

Without the single least regret

Careless or how much they paid

Regardless of the plans they made

All throughout their working years

To avoid the pain and tears

Spoken of in elder’s tales

Of the trials and travails 

Before this social safety net

Made retirement a safe bet

All to give a tasty treat

To his buddies on Wall Steet.

Passing Strangeness

/ agarrabrant / 5 Comments

While I was driving today, I saw a young man walking slowly beside a young woman in full length, multi layered, traditional robes, perhaps Nepali, mostly in reds but with a green cloth head covering. They seemed to be having a quiet conversation. Their body language looked either intimate or conspiratorial; leaning in toward each other with out touching. About 15 feet behind them walked two older men of an age to be the parents of the younger pair. They too were talking quietly together and seemed to be watching the boy and the girl. All three men were wearing clean but plain Nepali style clothing.
This seemed rather out of place to me as I was driving in Richmond, Virginia.  I am wondering if I had the privilege to witnessed some small part of a traditional courtship ritual.  That seems to be my immediate impression and it made me feel all proud and paternal. 

I have no idea why!