L O L A -- Lola!
Friend, some of my friends have let me know that they have real problems. Cancer, deportation, addiction, lost loves, and nasty crap like that. I sense that my oath to "90 seconds to belly laugh" promise is a guilty pleasure. Yes, let me remove that guilt slightly, but just remember: You will laugh. Or else.
I passed by 2 Gunas Lp and saw Tommy, the ethics professor at Waterfront U. There is a plaque there dedicated to Tommy: "He so loved The Truth, he invented new ways to have sex with it." I think Alfred P. Doolittle had morals to match.
A little while later I saw a familiar street person. Lola of the incredible smile. Lola is about 75 years old. She is a street person: stroke person. No real retirement benefits or huge divorce settlement. Down and Out, it seems. Always at the bars, always on the sidewalk. She is totally at the mercy of whoever might help her.
She moves stiffly, but that only shows how much she has battled against her stroke. If she had not battled, she would be confined to that "Mobility Device" that many other disadvantaged folks may have chosen.
Lola takes very good care of herself: She may be run over, but not run down. I see her across the street. She smiles. She recognizes me. I like that: she has been a happy and fun person for a long time. You can’t get as positive as Lola overnight, it takes a life of practice. I like it when a charismatic like Lola recognizes me.
I’m experienced, and know how people age. Lola was beautiful when she was young. I can see from her face that she uses drugs rarely, if ever. Her posture is erect and proud: more possible than I can imagine with a cane or a walker. She flashes a wonderful smile, made even more magnificent by Roger’s Bike Ride of Solace.
Lola was beautiful, and still takes care of herself, but more importantly she can create spells with her face. It’s a wand to create magic. Gaze at your peril. No, not your peril; Gaze at your benefit. But her gift of emotional expression is near the end of it’s ride. What now? I don’t think Lola looks at life that way. She is always ready with a smile that uplifts.
What is it that makes Lola so positive? Is it desperation? No, I see lot’s of desperation on the streets. Lola is not desperate. Lola is expectant. Expectant that life provides wonder and challenge and change.
Right now, Lola will likely head in the direction of all our street folk. Down. More desperate. But she will rage against that good night. Give her $100, she will die shortly, Give her $1,000,000, she will die shortly.
Look me in the face and tell me she is a loser: She may be old and frail and uneducated. I’ll likely be much like her in 10 years. Can I look forward to a life as expectant as she does? How about you,Friend? Let’s you and I go for the good stuff inside. The great stuff. Like Lola has inside.