Gnawing at the Food Chain

November 13, 1999

Let's just say I was there, I saw, I ate, and I enjoyed, but something just didn't "feel" right. For a long time I could not put my finger on it.

Sure it was nice.

I got up on Monday morning, swam a mile in the private pool, locked in behind closed gates, and then rode the private elevator up to the the 7th floor suite.

The food was excellent, the company was the same, but I just don't fit in with all that wealth.

At the end of the day, we all saw around and watched the obnoxious Regis ask again and again, "is that your final answer."

There the three of us were, just like all the other ordinary folks all over the country.

Ordinary folks.

That's what has me thinking. Where are the aspirations of the ordinary folks in life? I'm pretty sure that their home won't be featured in some magazine, but our lives are intertwined together in a mosaic of events on this little planet of ours.

I confess, I don't get it. I don't get the desire to display wealth on a grand scale. I don't get flaunting it, I don't get conversations which drift to just how much the hinges are going to cost for the new condo, even if they are hand made and gold plated and all. Four thousand dollars shouldn't be too much for good pair hinges, should it?

Well, should it?

But who am I to say what is too much or not too much. When I raised my eyebrows at that one, I was told those were cheap hinges as hinges go, because buddy X was building a new mansion and his were going to cost about 12 thousand a set. I don't know if that's 4 or 6 or 8 hinges, but the cost is drifting up there.

Maybe it's just relative. Perhaps others might think I flaunt things, but perhaps not. Probably more like flaunt doing things, as opposed to owing things.

I suppose that's why I probably won't ever be in that place, other than a visitor. It just does not have the appeal for me.

Another thing which makes me uneasy, is to feel so "waited on." My friends are very nice people and it is probably a reason they get lavish attention, besides good tipping.

I think it comes down to the culture of wealth, and of being served, being taken care of, and being catered to.

Sure I loved the food, and the service, but it made me uneasy. I felt like I did not belong. I could have paid the bill, question is, would I ever?

I also loved my bed, and asked where they got the mattress because I need a new one. But then I saw a really neat ad in a magazine the other day, it was an ad for a tent.

The tent shown at night with some type of light glowing inside of it and the starry night sky is at the top of the ad....

For those nights when you are going to stay in a 150,000 star hotel....

Now that's more like it for me.

I will confess, I do miss those ocean sounds, and that warm breeze at night. Furnaces and fireplaces here in the north country this time of year.

Fireplaces can be nice too