By Kenneth Kowald
The last of the five friends who read my columns in manuscript came up with a good many gripes, following my own column about my concerns. The other four have had their say and I invite you to make your gripes known through TimesLedger Newspapers. Solutions are most welcome, too.
Paul was born in Ridgewood and has been a lifelong resident. He and his wife live on the same block where he and his mother were born. As with the others, Paul’s gripes came in two batches.
Here they are:
“I am not happy with the following categories of people, who are all on my ‘list’ of Gilbert and Sullivan fame: Those who do not clean up after their dogs. Those with blaring car and home radios. Graffiti vandals artists. People who do not put their shopping carts back in the place of storage. People who arrive late for the theater. People who live in our city, but register their cars in another state. Elected officials whose career is … to be elected officials. People who don’t sing the national anthem when standing before any public sports event. Tattoos. People who display flags for their country of origin, but never fly the Stars and Stripes on any U.S. holiday.”
Paul was just getting started. Here are his other thoughts:
“People who eat or drink on public transit — bus or train.
“People who think that all morality is relative, and there is no outside natural law.
“The entitlement mentality of too many in this country, especially those seniors who want everything free.
“Those to whom much has been given, but are clueless about sharing their time and talents as volunteers, or their financial resources, to those nonprofit programs that help those with significantly fewer resources.
“People who insist on purchasing six- or eight-cylinder passenger vehicles for ‘performance,’ when a four-cylinder car would suffice.
“People who refuse to replace their incandescent bulbs with fluorescents, either because they can’t be bothered, or worse, don’t believe we have to conserve energy because they don’t believe in pending climate change.
“Institutions that still have not come totally clean on pedophilia and still wonder why their attendance numbers and donations continue to slip, as if their congregants were total fools.
“Getting stuck on a ‘telephone carousel’ when the company’s electronic menu does not address the problem you are calling about, and there is no human operator to speak to.
“I feel better already getting these things off my chest.”
And, dear reader, I join Paul in that last comment!
Read my blog, No Holds Barred, at timesledger.com.
