An Asshole Idea Explained
Ever since I was a kid growing up a Polish neighborhood on
the South Side of Chicago, I was imbibed with the hippy spirit. The earliest of Halloween photo captured the
essence of my siblings and me: my older sister, the neat freak, was Carol
Burnett / The Cleaning Lady; my younger brother, whom you never know quite what
he’s up to was The Devil; and I - wearing a poncho, donning green-lensed John
Lenon-esk glasses, a long-haired wig and holding a poster with the peace symbol
- The Hippy.
As I grew, I retained an artistic and free spirit – painting
poetry on my bedroom walls, ripping red and black tights apart so I can sew one
red leg and one black together, dying my hair multiple colors (before it was
the rage), imitating famous people, making people laugh, and changing from an
econ to a theatre major (shocker!). All
dubbed “asshole ideas” by those that knew me best. Soon those behaviors were expected of me and
I seemed to have no problem living up to them.
Now don’t get me
wrong, the connotation of having “asshole ideas” doesn’t caste me in the best
light. But that depends how you look at
it. You see, in order to one-up other’s
projections of me, I’ve learned to tweak my perspective. And like singer Jimmy
Cliff said, “I could see clearly now the rain has gone./ I can see all
obstacles in my way...I think I can make it now, the pain
is gone… Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for…It's gonna be a bright
(bright), bright (bright) [asshole idea day]!!
Hope you join me daily and feel
this magic carpet ride!
Whoosh!