Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Long May She Wave
Every holiday the Director of my “Office” (three departments working on loosely related stuff) goes around and gives away little baggies of candy and treats. (Not every holiday, you’re right. Just the ones with significant marketing aspects. I don’t think we got little bags of fruit and hats for Cesar Chavez day, for instance.)
For the Fourth of July we got baggies with chocolates, a little twirly toy, and a white chocolate american flag puzzle (you have to get the little silver sugardot “stars” to settle into divots in the blue field.) My chocolates lasted from 10 am till 11:30; the flag lasted another two days because I solved the puzzleand wanted to revel in my victory for a while. But then I ate the flag too. Patriotism only goes so far when candy is involved.
Last week my supervisor left for a hawaiian vacation. Her July 4 candy is sitting untouched on her desk. When she gets back, she’ll have macadamia candy out the wazoo and will most probably throw away the little flag puzzle and the rest of the 7/4 baggie.
I’ve taken temporary possession of the abandoned baggie of candy from my supervisor’s desk. It’s hiding in a safe location where no one (but me) can harm it. Before she left she offered to give it to anyone who asked; it’s just been sitting there in the middle of her cleaned-up desk like a dog left at the park. Maybe it’s wrong to have taken it, but I’m tired of being right. Candy is made to be eaten. Letting it be thrown away is worse than purloining it. America would agree. It’s the flag, damnit - and I won’t see it thrown in the garbage. Even if that means I have to jam it in my mouth and masticate.
