Common Sense	Common Sense Archive

What if just one thing goes wrong? A friend of mine recently boarded a flight from Boston to Kansas City-- I forget what the occasion was. As the big plane was taxiing for take-off, it suddenly came to a halt, skidding off the runway. What went wrong? I asked him. "Apparently, one of the doors wasn't closed and they didn't catch it until we were in the process of take-off." Scary.

I don't drive much, usually about once a year. But when I do, finding myself speeding along some high-traffic interstate at 75 mph, various thoughts occur to me. I think about the tires on the rental car. I look at the other drivers-- often passing me at even higher speeds-- with apprehension. What if one is on a cell phone, screeching at his bookie? What if some are totally fatigued with highway driving? (I get dazed after 50 miles and turn into every rest area available where I have a nice long walk and a cigarette-- yes, you can still smoke cigarettes at the rest areas on the interstate highways, though, for how much longer no one knows.) What if a little animal races in front of my moving vehicle? What if it's a deer? I have no contingency plans for such events.

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Even walking in urban areas involves defensive actions. So many people, first of all, seem so angry all the time. My late friend Jimmy Marshall, who was a terrific children's book writer and illustrator, moved from Boston to New York some years back. He liked living in New York, did not like Boston but would have to come to Boston to see his editor at Houghton Mifflin. On these occasions, we would have lunch or a drink. Jim observed: "People in Boston seem like they're about to explode. I always expect some complete stranger to walk up to me on the street and just smack me!" This seems to me a fair way to evaluate much of the citizenry. I do wonder why so many just seem to waddle down the streets and avenues, with no clue as to how to interact with others in crowded situations-- "Keep to the right, Helen!" If there is such a thing as Sidewalk Rage, I may be a prospective enactor. Even escalators! Is it possible large numbers of people have not been educated in how to navigate an experience on an escalator? I often seem to land behind the one who, first of all, just camps out on the escalator, like it was some sort of ride at an amusement park (I tend to race up the venue), and, worse, at the top of the stairs, just steps off the machine and stands there, seemingly unaware of the crushing throngs behind him/her. Is this just stupidity? Or nominee-worthy level of passive-aggression? I have designed my life to keep clear of a lot of people, many already referenced in this short piece.

Just in case

What if just one thing goes wrong? It might be nice if everything went just as one wanted. Why this might actually happen beats me. Speed-bumps, pot holes, road kill-- to continue our travel experience allusions-- are parts of each person's itinerary. I see the gay movement through this prism as well. What if one thing has gone wrong? Has it? One thing that did go well was that we got to establish the basis of discussion about our own lives, replacing the head-shrinkers, the religious, the hypocrites, the loony-toons, with their wacko-blather. Then came other developments, social, political, legal and on. Most have been salutary. Has anything gone wrong? Of course. No one person and no movement bats a thousand (that's a sports term I learned when young). And in the overall vector of things, there has been success in bringing more and more people into a larger effort, a push here and there on many fronts.

I remember reading a book some years back; it was written by two semi-conservative queens. They had a plan to take on injustice and homophobia. It was: buy TV ads in favor of diversity and gay-sensitivity. It is one strategy. Imagine my surprise when, just today, I read that the Log Cabin Republicans, unhappy with the way events developed at the recent GOP convention in NYC, had produced, bought and had aired advertisements on the television, in certain broadcast areas, using, of all people, Ronald RayGun, in support of sensitivity and diversity. I hope it works. It is certainly nice to entertain the notion that some of the good folk out there in media-land will change their world view as the result of a television spot. As an agnostic, I lack this faith.

I once thought it would have been the best strategy to have a focused, justice-driven agenda for our movement-- with maybe outrageous demonstrations at one end with practical achievements at the other. After 30 years of watching it all, reading about it and, even, making my own contribution, I hope, it turns out to be a multi-pronged endeavor, with so many working so many case files. Who knew that a court decision in Massachusetts about marriage-- and this marriage issue has been floating in and out of the legal system for over 34 years-- would suddenly get a nation crazed, not that it takes much? Is this right? Is this wrong? I have sort of moved on from that kind of analysis. I find the world shocking; I find a good lot of what passes in my society shocking. If I had my druthers well, that's another trip, down the perfect lane.

Author Profile:  Mitzel
	Mitzel was a founding member of the Fag Rag collective, and has been a Guide columnist since 1986. He manages Calamus Books near Boston's South Station.
	Email:	mitzel@calamusbooks.com
	Website:	calamusbooks.com