I went to the Doctor the other day. Lets just say I have been going to the Doctor a lot these days. Not as much as last year but more than I would have normally gone any other year. I am tired of going to the Doctor.
Anyway, I did what I had to do and was standing in line to get a new prescription. I am really tired of getting prescriptions. Unfortunately, I had to get this new batch of whatever the Doctor insisted I take this time. However, I struck a deal with her. I am now taking two less prescriptions, if I started to take this one. Kinda a two for one deal. My goal and she agrees is to keep decreasing all my prescriptions to only one maybe two by the end of the year.
Oh...back to the standing in line thing. I was standing there behind two older ladies. I noticed both of them had bed head. I mean hair standing straight up all messy like. Sorta like they both just rolled out of their bath robes, didn't bother to look in a mirror, bathe, brush their hair or teeth kinda look. Both of them leaning on canes and wearing some hard core polyester disasters. One in blue triangles and one in black polka dots. My head began to wonder, if I too would be them someday. I had to shake that thought away. I shivered it out of my brain and I looked up to see a plastic Thor on the counter.
Well, that is different I thought to myself. You really do not see a plastic Thor doll on Pharmacy counter very often. It wasn't for sale, I noted. It was rather beat up. How very interesting, I thought as I pondered this odd doll in an unusual location.
I came up to the counter and handed the Pharmacy Tech my papers. She typed in my numbers and confirmed that indeed I was me and what my drugs were going to be. This is when I asked about the Thor doll. I asked, Is this a Thor doll? She said, I don't know? This thing has been here for three years. We keep moving it around the Pharmacy. I said, well it has a name. His name is Thor. He is from Icelandic Mythology. His Father is Odin. He has a Magical Hammer. You know him, right? She shook her head. Nope, she said. I never heard of him. I blinked in astonishment. What? I said. Well, what about Marvel Comic Books or the Avengers...perhaps the latest movies named Thor? She shook her head again and said, No. She said she never heard of any such thing and it was an ugly doll. She then said that no one in the whole Pharmacy knew who this doll was. I found that hard to believe.
This is when I turned to the person in the next line and asked, do you know who Thor is? The person shook her head and said no. I looked to the next person in the line and he shook his head no. At this point, I just had to go sit down and wait for my prescription. I was mystified as to how people could actually not know who this ancient person of myth was. I simply could not remember a time in my life of not knowing his story or his legend.
The next day I was out and about, I was very busy and I had basically forgotten about the incident. Until I met someone who introduced himself as Ariel. He said hello, my name is Ariel. You know like the Mermaid. This young man was in his early thirties. I looked at him and I said, I think your Mother would have been to old to have been taken away by a Disney movie at the time of your birth. Ariel is the name of an Archangel. Also, Ariel is a character in one of Shakespeare's plays...a Faerie I think. He was all smiles. Really? He said. I said, yes. Google it. He told me I was the first person he had ever met that did not associate his name with the Disney Mermaid.
Again, puzzled. I thought how could he not know that? Who would name their male child after a Mermaid in a Disney Movie? He was born before the movie even came out so that would be impossible. Who would name their child something with such meaning and not give them the meaning of that name? Once again I found myself thinking to much. My head began to hurt.
I went to work the day after that. I just knew that my work colleges would know who Thor was. I was completely disappointed. Most of them knew him from the Marvel Comics or Movies. Not one of them could tell me who his Father was or what mythology he came from. Not one of my work colleagues knew who Ariel was. I did ask one particular Surgeon, who is very smart, he knew who Thor was and who is Father was. He also knew that Ariel's name came up in Shakespeare but he did not know about him being an Angel. I was so sad.
I had to call my Daughter on my way home from work. I told her about my little adventure and asked her, if she knew about Thor. She laughed at me and said there was not a moment that she did not. That she knew about all the Seraphim's and the Archangel's, Ariel being one of them. She also said that the reason she knew of these things was because of me. That she was well read and highly educated because of me.
What? I said. She said that we had no TV and that we read, all the time. That I insisted she know all there was to know about everything. Oh, I said. I am sorry? She laughed at me again. She said Thank you. I said, your welcome? I thanked her for knowing these things and that she restored my faith in people once again. That I was not a freak for knowing what most have forgotten.
I suppose that we are in the modern world and silly stories of Gods and Goddess or Shakespeare might be a waste of my brain space. Then again so can a reality show. I guess that is the beauty of being human and living in America. We have the right to choose what we fill our minds with. I like that. What do you think?
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