Cranky cabbie Hans Wienhold on people “too busy” to notice Canada is in deep trouble
About thirty years ago, I picked up this young broad. It was a good trip; we had some time to talk, but she did most of the talking.
She started telling me all about the problems she was having with her boyfriend. She was frustrated that he kept bugging her that she didn’t pay enough attention to him.
Then she exclaimed, “He just doesn’t understand. I am just too busy.”
Gawd. I wish I could have got this on tape.
As she started to explain the problem, I was mesmerized. It was one of those rare occasions when I just sit back and let the fare do all the talking.
She explained that if she got up early, like around 10am, she had to watch “Designing Women,” followed by “Family Feud.”
At eleven, there was “The Price is Right.”
I don’t remember her exact morning schedule, other than that Judge Wapner was included.
Her afternoon schedule ran something like this:
- The Young and the Restless
- The Bold and the Beautiful
- As the World Turns
- Guiding Light
And then there was, unsurprisingly, her evening schedule.
I started to experience deep sympathy for her plight, as she repeated her initial complaint: “He just doesn’t understand. I am just too busy.”
***
These days, I find myself being lectured to by a sophisticated group of pro-mask, pro-lockdown, pro-vaccination people; a growing number of Haters of the Unvaccinated have now begun patronizing me with Junk News soundbites.
If I provide them with any of the information that thoroughly demolishes their complex mixture of Junk News propaganda and their prior beliefs (like the now-discredited belief that if you get a COVID shot or two, or three, you won’t get infected, and you won’t spread the disease) they just clam up.
I know why this is. It’s because they are just “too busy” to notice that our rights and freedoms have been almost completely abolished.
Too busy.
Doing what? I don’t know. Maybe posting pictures of themselves on vacation? Or of their pets? Or their dinners?
You know, I wish I were busy enough to be doing stuff like that.
Instead, for almost two years now, I have invested time and effort every single day, trying to understand what is going on with COVID-19 and the attendant demolition of the liberties we in the West have always taken for granted.
Things like, how many people we are allowed invite for Christmas dinner; whether or not we are allowed to work for a living; or whether or not grandparents should be allowed to visit their grandchildren.
You know.
Trivia.
Personally, I just can’t imagine how someone would be “too busy” to notice that.
Then again, remembering that young woman’s demanding daily TV schedule, I actually can imagine how someone could be that busy. Canadians, it seems, have just been “too busy,” to inquire as to why their freedom has been cancelled.
*****
This story is an excerpt from Hans Wienhold’s new book “Confessions of a Hamilton Cab Driver,” available on Amazon in hardcover or paperback.
Wienhold identifies as a Welfare Recipient at Senior’s Welfare; Self-Employed; and also, a Climate Scientist at BS Detective Services.
