Don't get mad, get even
By writing a silly poem
Last week I was out at a nice hotel for their Sunday carvery. I was driving someone with me who has access issues and as such would need to use the disabled parking spaces and use their blue badge.
It is a popular place and the car park was fairly busy, and when we got to the disabled spaces they were all taken. So I parked temporarily at the entrance and made sure my passenger was safely in reception before I went back to park in a normal spot further away. When I walked back to the reception I walked past the disabled cars and noticed of 3 spaces only one was displaying a blue badge. One of the cars not displaying a blue badge was a Bentley and I felt incensed.
I instantly assumed they were displaying a level of entitlement and lack of regard for others. I discussed this with my friends over our lunch and they were far more generous with their thoughts on the matter. They tried to give the benefit of the doubt by suggesting maybe it was owned by an older person who has a bit of forgetfulness or someone who has just had a bad day and left the pass at home. This viewpoint was nowhere near my instant judgement. And as someone who has suffered from the occasional memory lapse I felt more magnanimous, but the cynic in me wasn’t 100 per cent convinced. I’ll never know either way, but we managed our day out regardless, so it wasn’t the end of the world in this specific instance.
As any good cynic would, I stewed on it for a few days. And as a cynical poet, I wrote a poem:
Thank you for reading Poems & That. If you like silly poems like this you may enjoy my book ‘Proving I Exist’ which has a whole section of silly poems. All money raised from sales of my book goes to Choose Love and Refuge.
You should definitely do a series like this. One thing you noticed that week. Or one thing that happened. I love your lens that you show us through your words.
I am going to take the view that the person who parked in that handicapped space did it illegally and does NOT have a pass. I wouldn't get mad; I would report it to the cops. Now, it might turn out I was wrong, but I believe we need to crack down on this behavior, and lots of times people have these handicapped stickers that may belong to loved ones who are legitimately handicapped but they take the passes and use it for themselves so they can get away with parking illegally. I also understand the point of view of your friends on the matter. I hope the person wasn't parking illegally, but we'll never know why he didn't have a pass and parked there. Oh well, thanks for your being observant and looking out for these types of things!! Also, look for people who have those passes but get out of the car and don't look disabled. THOSE folks you would want to question them at length.