In Texas one can see amazing things. Shopping in Steinmart recently with members of my family we were not sure whether to laugh or cry. Three lines are open. We are in the middle. To our left the line seemed to have come to a standstill. The operator was brand new -- obviously. She had just crashed and burned. And she asked our guy to come help her. Of course, he abandoned our register to assist her. In the meantime, my niece abandoned us and went to the line on the right. She zipped right through. Of course. Not only can the new girl and our guy not get the cash register up and going, whatever she had done, it took a manager to override the mess. No manager is coming.
So we are still waiting, waiting patiently. Our guy returns to his register. He looks down at the customer's receipt for the item she wants to return. "This is in Spanish." (I'm thinking to myself, well, of course, it is. Hello, this is McAllen, Texas. 84% of the population is Spanish-speaking, why wouldn't the receipt be in Spanish?) As it turns out, she bought the item more than thirty days ago and needs manager approval for a return. Two registers down now. And we still have not changed lines. Again the request over the P.A. for a manager. Still, no one has appeared from the back. Still, the lines at the registers swell. Niece returns to ask, why are y'all still standing here? Good question. Prompted by some common sense, I move to the far register. Only two people in front of me.
I smile as I return to the scene of the, well, where I had been standing for so long. And where my sister-in-law still was. She has almost made it to first place. The manager now arrives to give the special card to the woman who wants to return her >30-day-old item. Now it's our last shopper's turn, and we see the manager working to un-crash the register on the left. No idea how long that took.
Starved to death, we look for Mexican food. After all, we need beans and cheese to return to a state of Valley-health. Nearby was Palenque Grill, a very popular and reliable restaurant. Good, we immediately get a table. Scarf down some chips, drink our tea, and what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a TV camera and boom mikes. Guys in black tee shirts. Can you read what it says? No, can you? Something about mania. So we ask our waiter, who is more than happy to tell us all about it.
We learn that Larry Hernandez is here, recording an episode for his reality TV show, Larrymania. Until this time I had never heard of Larry Hernandez or Larrymania. But what does any curious person do in today's world? Why, I whip out my iPhone, google him and then check wikipedia. After learning everything I can, I snap a couple of shots with my camera phone. Hey, it's not every day I get to be part of a reality TV episode. Larrymania shows how Larry the music superstar is able to navigate the difficulties of his career and have time for his private life. Not sure if we are part of the career difficulties or the private life where he is just having dinner at a restaurant. Seeing all his fans line up to take pictures with him, I'm going with the former. From the internet search I learn that I can get two tickets to his concert that evening for $65, but unfortunately, I already have plans for the evening.
But it makes me wonder. What if all of us are really living our lives in one big, long reality TV show? What if we are just part of a grand story with a lesson to be learned? There is no point in my sharing the issues wich which I have struggled lately, whether deep or superficial, but they were difficult for me. Larry speaks into the camera and shares his "confessionals." His network loves the ratings (#1). I have no desire to do that. But I do wonder whether we are all facing the same basic issues.
We all must come to terms with finding our place in the world, our career, our family, balancing those two realms. We care for family members, obligations of all types, financial, personal, and so on. We all must deal with loss -- sometimes staggering loss, a person we wonder if we will be able to live without. We all must find some way to deal with betrayal, whether in the form of a trusted friend, a lover or a co-worker. And then there is that whole notion of power: what is it and what do we do about it, or with it, (or without it if we lose it or never had it). We are all playing many parts, over and over again.
So maybe Shakespeare had it right, even for those of us in Texas:
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts ... "
