Admission is free to the petting zoo and it's total chaos. Thankfully baby G navigated it with finesse and kisses for all those dirty animals. I guess now I'm hoping my metaphor doesn't translate directly but... Like animals of the four-legged-kind we eat and we poop and we step in our poop and we get sprayed with water when we misbehave or are too aggressive with others. We look for food and attention and love and peace all in a little hay-lined, ramshackle corral; with a roof thankfully. People come in to our lives for a visit and some pictures and to feed us and kiss us and then they are gone. They point and laugh with us and watch our silly behavior and want to know more about us and get close to us and are happy, maybe we make them happy, and we're overjoyed. But then they leave and wash their hands.
Walmart on Tangerine is a mecca of sorts in this desert. No less than 4 walls with a roof and lighting and AIR CONDITIONING with a McDonalds and nail salon and hair salon and an opthalmalogist and a garden nursery and a grocery store and BATHROOMS and things for sale! You could be born and die; you could spend your lifetime, in a Walmart with nary a need! There ARE doorkeepers but everyone is welcome! The greeters ask how you are doing and they'll give you a basket for all of the stuff you want to shop for, or to load your toddler into! They want to make your experience easier and enjoyable. The floors are polished clean and the goods for sale are organized into neat rows with signs. There is no trash to be seen anywhere! People have been hired to help you find what you need. There are express lanes with express cashiers who, again, are helpful. All you have to do is relax and enjoy yourself!
Like the petting zoo, Walmart does house some INTERESTING "creatures". I love that almost anyone can have a chance to work at Walmart it seems, upon first glance. But in actuality everyone is there for a reason; they have been hired to be part of a team. Walmart, hate it or love it, is a well-oiled machine. Their response to Hurricane Katrina outpaced the US Government's attempt. That.is.huge.
I don't have a tidy conclusion for this post. I wouldn't want to spend my afterlife in a metaphorical fluorescent-lit, walled-in, deep freeze, no thank you to cryogenic suspension either, but it seemed like everyone who worked there, no matter their size, age, color, or disability, had that purposeful gleam in their eye. That "I'm part of a bigger something" smile on their face. A peacefulness like someone was patting them on the back in approval...yes a paycheck is great incentive. That individuals of unsound mind or otherwise-incapable body were here, gainfully employed, is testament to Walmart's managers and visionaries and all of the coworkers on their team.
In reality we humans are animals. We can be smelly and greedy and selfish and exactly like the inhabitants of the petting zoo; which is fine and I do prefer to be outside in some shade being handfed :) But I want to be more than part of a traveling circus. I want to be a part of that bigger something. I think I'd like to be part of a team. I hope I can make things easier for others. Guess I oughta apply at Walmart ;)
