The personal training gym I use to to work with my clients is about a 20 minute walk from my house. Easy exercise for me, and most days in LA are the same, filled with sun, warmth and of course Angeleno’s; the sun, the warmth are easy to handle, sometimes the Angeleno’s, not THAT simple. On Tuesday at 4pm, as I left to train my last client for that day, I had a whack on the side of my head moment as I meandered the maddening avenue of Melrose just trying to get from here to there. The whack was not a physical bump on my head but an emotional insurgence permitting me to FINALLY understand the how and why Trump/the GOP and the Russians have gained power and control of our government.
I walked down the six steps, exiting from my home walking the few feet of Waring Avenue to approach Melrose Ave, a major thoroughfare taking me from West Hollywood, to the furthest stretches of West LA (both communities demographically well to do). As I began my right turn onto Melrose, standing at the corner, of the intersection was a young woman posing for her photographer waiting for her picture to be taken. Facing her, trying to make left onto Waring was an older woman in a wheel chair, standing behind her were two men and their two dogs. The photographer did not move, the woman in the wheel chair said excuse me, the young woman being photographed hissed for the lady in the wheel chair to shut up, the two men not paying attention to their dogs did not notice that the dogs were barking at the lady in the wheel chair. I was facing all of this chaos, waiting my turn to get to work. The lady sitting in the wheel chair, asked the dog owners to hold their dogs back. The one man snipped at the lady in the wheel chair, this is not your sidewalk, then tugged at the leash causing the dark to yelp, then causing the photographer to say to his model, who are these people. I managed to walk in traffic and got away from this mess. A few blocks, headed toward the gym, new construction is taking place and an already narrow sidewalk has become narrower. Walking toward me was a middle aged man on the phone, talking loud about the deal. I suppose with him, albeit just physically was a younger woman texting. The current sidewalk could contain two people one facing east and one facing west, both having to pass one another sideways at best. I tried to maneuver a slight twist of my body, but the man talking about the deal, and the texting woman decided that i was invisible. He bumped my back pack, I said “Asshole”, he walked past me, she bumped into me, not looking up I called her “Shit for Brains”. I must have looked larger than life, gave them a stare that must have looked like I was a madman and they both scurried off.
Almost making it to the gym, one more street to cross on a green light, a Tesla, decides that it must make the right hand turn I am already in the crosswalk and the driver honks at me. Again I use my I will kill you face, but much to my chagrin, the car behind the Tesla, a BMW, has a driver who is texting, and because one more LOL must have been a priority, the BMW hits the Tesla. I smile I give both drivers the finger, and continue on to the gym. I get to the gym, put cold water on my face, take a deep breath and at that moment I realized that no one pays attention to anything but themselves. Selfish is as selfish does, so of course those best at ignoring the world around them and ONLY being self serving survive. Trump makes the perfect symbol to sit in the Oval Office!
