Correr Es Mi Destino

Sometimes, I read the paper and I just don’t get it. Why ? WHY ??? And don’t tell me I’m overreacting okay, I’m a former anarchist-communist turned left-wing !

I turned back to the kid who was starting to freak out pretty bad. He did have a lot of blood on him, his tee-shirt was soaked but the wound didn’t seem to bleed as much now that he was sitting.

I’m a small-time player. Or so said the last telemarketer who called to offer me a $10,000 Amex credit card. I gasped when I heard the figure. “But I don’t make that much money”, I naively admitted. “That’s why you should be interested in a higher limit credit card, ma’am. This is Canada”, he added, in his heavily Cantonese-accented English.

Paris, the Champs-Élysées, on a chilly afternoon, about a month ago. We were walking down the broad avenue when we suddenly found ourself drifting to avenue Montaigne.

Something has been bothering me for a while now. Maybe it’s the one-sided view of the problem. Maybe it’s because I feel we’re witch-hunting. Maybe it’s because I can’t take hypocrisy very well. or maybe I’ve just been brainwashed my the Chinese as my friends like to joke.

But my most memorable “wrong place / wrong time” experience took place in 2001. Most people remember 9/11 very clearly. I remember October 7th, when the war started.

Has anyone ever bought something from a telemarketer? Enlighten me! If someone calls to ask if you need to replace your windows, what are the chances that are gonna go: “absolutely sir, that’s exactly what I was my wife and I were talking about over diner when you called! Tell me, which numbers do you need on my credit card?”

His platform what somewhat unclear but included the “No Child Left Behind Act” (”Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?”, he wondered), no nation building (”I don’t think our troops should be used for what’s called nation building” as said in 2000), making rich people richer (”This is an impressive crowd. The haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite. I call you my base”, he declared) and having fun (”I don’t give a goddamn, I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way. Stop throwing the Constitution in my face, It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”, said the decider-in-chief”),

The volunteer took a step back as he spoke, as if my Europeanism could jump on him. I decide to not mention that I spent quite a lot of time in malaria infected areas in Latin America, and got my yellow fever shot last minute in Panama’s remote countryside in a local health center.