he sat alone, reading his book

he sat alone, at a lunchroom table, reading a book. it was some quasi-intellectual title that i have long since forgotten. the man worked in a manufacturing facility, i do not know what his actual job was, but i figured it was not a complicated job.  maybe his job was more complicated, now that i think about it.  but he appeared to be enjoying the book. he was quite absorbed in the reading, and no one bothered him at all.

it was my observation that many of the workers there were not very bright. i interacted with a great number of them in my duties. (i was there with the hearing testing company - OSHA mandated hearing testing in industry.)  i knew that my company went to this particular manufacturing facility annually to test the plant employees hearing.  i know that many were not very bright, because they could not remember ever having their hearing tested there before - yet many of them marked on their hearing questionnaire that they had worked there for several years. Looking at the questionnaires that they filled out I found myself wondering about their intelligence. (How did these people find their way to and from the job every day, because evidence showed that they could not possibly have complicated jobs. likely to be replaced by robots any day now....)

I still think about the man reading the quasi-intellectual book....  what a sly fox he was... have a simple job for most of your life.  A job that doesn't involve ALL of your intellect, and in your space time EXPAND your knowledge by reading all the time. i bet he made a pretty good living, lived cheaply at home, had few debts, and a library card. i bet he put money into savings every week, and had a sizeable retirement fund. i envy that man.

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the rocker

it was her chair 

the rocker

she chose it

sat in only by her

rocker recliner

velvet like fabric

when she struggled

to rise from her rocker

i added to the height

she is gone now

I sit in her rocker

daily

the rocking comforting