Systemic Symptoms

A few weeks ago* I had lunch at Marie Callender's. Such an event is typically no cause for alarm, and in- and of- itself, probably not blog-worthy. [Dear reader, however, please recall my ability to turn in the most banal events into self-contained novellas on my blog]. As I quaffed my tall glass of ice water, an epiphany formed in my teeming brain: I have become part of the System!

What System? you are likely asking. The yupp-ified educational-economic complex that drives the social-political-financial machine that is America. I am part of the System. And it all happened so subtly, I would have hardly noticed, were it not for my exceptionally bourgeoise lunch. I was consuming Marie Callender's "quiche sampler", which includes: a their applewood smoked bacon quiche with spinich, and topped with tomato slices and provolone and mozzarella cheeses (all in their delightfully flaky pie crust); chicken Waldorf salad made with fresh apples, cranberries & raisins; a spring salad with balsamic vingarette, mandarin oranges and caramelized pecans; and three pieces of asparagus.

"My lunch is so bourgeoise that the proletariat McValue lunches down the street are going to rise up in open rebellion to overthrow it!" I mused. "I could only be more systemic if I were on my cell phone trading stock tips with my broker, driving down the street in some SUV convertible, all while running over some poor old lady, and justifying it by noting that she was 'not a productive part of our free-market economy'."

Then it hit me: I need my fun (but sometimes stressful) job in the Palisades to support my bourge Marie Callender's lunches, keep gas in my environmentally conscious Prius hybrid, reside in my suburban dwelling, &c. &c. I've allowed myself to be trapped in the System!

I need to simplify. That's the new buzz word: simplify.


*editor's note: "The High Holy Days" series, by virtue of the fact that it required me to blog about topics ostensibly related to Judaism, precluded me from blogging about a variety of then-current situations in my life. Now there is an impressive backlog of ideas accumulating in my already teeming brain, where these thoughts and observations are mixing, interacting, and procreating like proverbial rabbits.