Walk all ways
There are arresting circumstances
under observation that sometimes elevate a person’s reluctant capacity to
sententiousness, and it behoves one to entertain the thought process, even if
nothing is eventually committed to journaling.
In this case, one could already see
from afar that the man one first thought was young, naïve, quite unsteady on
his feet; for whilst his direction was forward, there was no line to how his
gait had lost the acuity of coherence that would suggest any sobriety. This is
to be totally distinguished from where a person might, by reason of infirmity, be
less disposed to display essential or required coordination.
Jolt clear ahead
By the time one was level with him,
and one had to swiftly move along lest his footfalls give way to an
ill-considered collision, he was trying to light a cigarette, which he
successfully accomplished, and one could infer that this man was middle-aged or
older.
At two pedestrian crossings, concern
engendered one’s disposition that this endangered species of auto-inebriation
was courting the boundaries of casualty, but he did come through unscathed
until a sudden clatter, he had walked into a temporary road sign and fallen
somewhat on his backside providing the necessary jolt to the senses that might
have helped bring some alertness to his stupor, for soon after, either out of
caution or embarrassment, he steadied himself better towards his destination.
Better than who?
The question that percolated in one’s
mind all through this sordid spectacle was how anyone could not know when they
have had enough to drink, such that they have sated their thirst for alcohol
without being either a public nuisance or a safety risk in a public place? It is
a question that always baffles, for, at the second of tipsy, one is homeward bound.
One should be sober, coherent,
coordinated, and able to put one foot in front of the other. All mishaps to
happen in the confines of the home, every time, all the time, and one has only once
ever been given to alcohol-induced emesis at home, the only silly thing about
it was that it should have been done in the toilet bowl rather than in the sink.
Yet, people would do what they would
do, and people like us would walk by pondering, much holier than thou in that
and probably not in another. We should take the Pharisaic trophies that are
handed to us without much exertion. On to the next moral challenge.
