Evolution?

Last Wednesday I parked at the airport for a short trip.  I pulled into a vacant space, opened the door, put one foot on the cement parking lot floor, and then wheeled around placing my other foot on the ground ready to walk to the trunk of the car to get my suitcase.

What happened next would have been a sight had anyone been watching. From a distance it could have looked like I had, suddenly, decided to practice a tap dance step or a gymnast's move for some competition. I hopped up, spread my legs, landed with feet splayed, hopped back, and shuffled sideways, Virginia reeling my way to the back of the car.

I performed this maneuver which--I'll boast--was no easy feat (pun unintended), because as I began to move toward the back of the car I noticed what appeared to be a fecal deposit (how is that for a euphemism) in my path that would have been on the bottom of my dress shoes had I not been gifted with athletic skill.

For a moment I thought this must not be what it appeared to be, because after all, how does such matter get in an indoor airport parking lot.  But the stuff did not pass the smell test. And since I had to move at least once from the back of the car to the front to retrieve items, I felt like I was playing the kids' game of hopscotch as I skirted the mess.  I had avoided any contact, but was bothered--as one might understand--by the incident.

The thing is that someone left that there.  Occasionally you see an animal in an airport and my first thought was that someone had not curbed the dog and just left the remains on the grounds. I am not an expert on the looks of who leaves what, but I think it is possible that what was left there was not necessarily from a dog, but some other being.

And regardless, what kind of person leaves that there. What kind of person leaves that there so that someone else who parks in the spot has to audition for a chorus line in order to avoid getting messed up.

Inside the terminal, I placed my credit card in a machine and out popped my boarding pass, with my name, flight, time of arrival, and frequent flier number.  I went through security and a machine was able to undress me and see if I was carrying some weapon. Another machine x-rayed my belongings.  To get to my plane I enjoyed the convenience of an electronic walkway to help me along to the gate.  I counted, and more than one out of every two people in the waiting area were spending the time on their tiny hand held phone/computers that can give you the weather in Istanbul, the dow jones average, and photos of a buddy who lives in Albuquerque.

Our technology is so sophisticated that those who have died no more than 15 years ago would think this was the 23rd century not the 21st if they could be brought to earth for a day or two.

And yet someone had inconsiderately left a pile of manure in a parking lot, knowing well that someone would have to deal with it in someway or other.  It seems to me that metaphorically a lot of folks are perfectly content to shed their waste instead of dealing with it, leaving it to others to function--not only with our burdens, but the droppings of people who are capable of rationalizing leaving messes for others.

Our technology is misleading. Not sure we have evolved that much.