Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Incident #1
I'm pulling out of my mother-in-law's driveway a couple weeks ago. We are headed to Wal-Mart and a few other routine stops. As we turn onto the road, I look up and see a car parked across the street, down a dirt road, with no one in it. Odd. There are no houses around, no nothin'.

Incident #2
A few days later I'm sitting at the Sonic drive in ordering some burgers. I see a big rig slowly pull up to curb. An older gentleman steps out. Looks friendly enough. He walks up to speaker by the playground and orders two meals. Two complete meals with drinks. I look to his truck and see that there is no one in the passenger side.

Okay. So the reason I am telling you about these things happening is not so much because they happened but because I need to tell you how my warped mind processed them.

In the stranded vehicle situation, when I saw the car parked in the road I immediately combed the area for other suspicious vehicles (visual comb). I looked for victims the driver and any passengers that might be stranded. I tried to memorize the license plate number. I considered asking MIL to pull up to the car, but decided against that because it might implicate us make us late for shopping. So we drove on and I thought about the stranded car all day. I had so many questions!

Now you just think I'm weird. Yeah, pretty much. Wanna hear about the mysterious Sonic guy?

Mmhm, thought so.

The old man got out of his truck and pulled up his wranglers. He slowly looked both ways as he crossed the street. I did the friendly "We Live in Small Town Texas and Wave at Everyone" wave. He did not wave back. Red flag #1. Then he walked up to the little stand where you order if you aren't in a car and ordered TWO meals. Red flag #2. Normally I wouldn't consider a grown man ordering enough food to feed two or even three people just for himself strange--but this man ordered two drinks. Now, let us use our best profiling reasoning skills here. If you are at Sonic and you want a lot to drink, what do you order? Exactly. You make 'em bust out a Route 44. Not this guy. He ordered two medium drinks. Something seemed off. I looked over to his truck . I considered walking over to peek inside the window. WHO was the second drink for? Was there a victim another passenger hiding in there?

About this time, the old man looked over at me and gave me the "We Live in Small Town Texas and Wave at Everyone" wave. He then took one big gulp of drink #1 and then another big gulp of drink #2.

Apparently the guy likes to alternate swigs of Dr. Pepper and Ocean Water and I am an idiot who watches ENTIRELY too many episodes of Criminal Minds. I pulled out of Sonic and went home to ask Hottie if we could sell the TV. Because he has a more subdued imagination than I and had not begun actually trying to gather evidence on random people in and around the community simply because of the obscene number of detective shows we watch, he did not understand my self-disgust and impulsive desire to repent and sell one of our beloved possessions. (Guinness Book longest sentence contender right there!)

Compromise: family keeps TV, Keelie watches less. WAY less. My point in all of this absurdity is to say that:

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45

Garbage in, garbage out.

19 comments:

  1. Hmmm...coming from the same town, I began wondering the EXACT same thing!!! Odd, but I get what you're saying, however, at least you were there in BOTH situations should something come up! Very observant...then again, I come from the same town LOL, so I would've done the same thing. I love that small town!

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  2. Good Post. Unfortunately I am the same way. Partly due to things I have seen and experienced in my own life, Partly because my husband is a cop and I know a lot more than many know in our small town, and partly due to the my love of crime shows and books! :)

    Thanks for the verse :)

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  3. Cute, creative post; but you do have to always be aware of your surroundings!! TV or no.....
    Thanks.

    Suzanne
    I love that you brought all this back to a Bible verse! :)

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  4. love that you kept looking for victims - too much tv = not a good thing :D

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  5. I'm hoping this isn't weird cuz I do this same thing...only mine are stories. If I see an old man and woman walking down the street I can concoct and entire novella based on how they are walking, why they are walking...it is crazy. Although it is a good thing for keeping little kids occupied for hours in the car...unless you loose your voice from talking too darned much! Cute post.

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  6. Haha! Maybe a little less CSI and a little more Discovery or History channels might help

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  7. Oh girl you are too funny. I over think things too. Love the verse you chose to go with this. great lesson learned.

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  8. Keelie, you're my connection to the outside world as it is! Smiling of course. What an observant person you are. Who REALLY knows what is going on here???

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  9. I've lived in a small town for two years now, and I forget sometimes I'm not in the city anymore. Like Monday when we went to the County fair there was a fight breaking out. Now being in a small town cops were on it like white on rice. Whereas in the city you keep the kids clear of everything for fear of gunshots.

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  10. Oh but I do the SAME thing, and I don't even have a TV!! I think women are naturally suspicious.

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  11. Keelie,

    I think these days we are all a little more suspicious of what is going on not just in our neighborhood but anywhere. I think that makes us great people not the kind that watch way too much TV. We are simply looking out for one another. One of these days, all that looking is going to pay off!

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

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  12. ummm yeah, I do this too. And it's not just from watching too much crazy tv, it's just everywhere! The internet, radio, magazines, newspapers...a coworker's friend, someone's sister....I don't like always hearing it but it does keep me mindful of where I am and how to be safe!

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  13. I was NOT a very observant person before I began watching the parade of crime-related dramas on TV. Now, I am not only observant, but I have graphic images in my mind of murder, rape, and other horrible things that will not go away. That is the garbage! I just left that out of the main post--tyring to keep it upbeat, I guess. Whether I can explain myself effectively or not--I KNOW that I watch too much TV. I didn't mean for it to sound like someone who is observant must watch too much TV (even though it did ha!)You could insert many different things into the garbage in, garbage out equation--TV, music, cirlce of fiends, trashy novels...the point is--our intake of HIS Word should far outweigh, if not replace, the other garbage that we let in. NOW am I making sense?

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  14. I agree with you on needing to let less garbage into our hearts and minds...but I must be *really* bad because when I read the word 'profiling' in your story, I immediately started thinking about Criminal Minds and how much I love that show! (O:

    Thanks for sharing!

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  15. Crack me up! A little less CSI and Criminal Minds, a little more of The Hills and Keeping Up With The Kardashians. lololol! Totally kidding. I know exactly what you are saying. How much time do I spend on TV, internet, etc. and skip bible study and time with God?! Thanks for always making us think!

    Love you!

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  16. I really needed to read that Bible verse, thanks for posting it.

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  17. Keelie, I think women in particular have God-given intuitions about such things. I think it's for self protection and protecting our families. Trust your instincts.

    Case in point: the policewoman who became suspicious of a man and his 2 daughters who wanted to pass out religious literature on campus which led to the discovery of kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard (who had been missing for 18 years).

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