The ramp I use to get off Interstate 95 in the mornings has a guardrail protecting sleepy motorists from the dangerous possibility of veering off the ramp and tumbling down the not so steep embankment to land back on the Interstate itself, upside down on their rooftops most likely. The last fifteen feet or so of this guardrail have become over the years a gathering place for bumper stickers. I have lived in this area all my life and have yet to actually see a motorist slapping a sticker down, but nevertheless the gray surface of the guardrail is covered in a multicolored mishmash of pictures and slogans. Some of these stickers are so time worn the sage advice they once contained is almost illegible. Others are so new the sunlight reflects most effectively into my sleepy eyes off the glossy surface as I wait to finish my commute to work.
I am sure there are guardrails like this all over America, dutifully preserving the lives of commuters while at the same time being turned into miniature billboards for metal bands, politicians, restaurants, and a thousand insults hurled at random. I always wonder why the people sitting in their cars had these bumper stickers so readily available in the first place. Do these people drive around with a case full, ready to find a spare spot of space at any given moment in time? Or do they plan ahead...purchasing the stickers days in advance of their assault on the guardrail? Whatever the case, there are easily over a hundred stickers out there, weathering the elements day in and day out.
There is one in particular that always catches my attention. The sticker itself is unremarkable. White letters, all caps, on a green background. It is the saying itself that sticks with me. The sticker sits parked between a Bush insult (There is a town in Texas that is missing it's idiot) and a campaign for an obscure Delaware politician who ran for the state senate six years ago. The words are wise, advice so compelling it is surprising it does not come from the pages of the bible itself.
DO NOT MEDDLE IN THE AFFAIRS OF DRAGONS FOR YOU ARE CRUNCHY AND GOOD WITH KETCHUP.
Those my friends, are words to live by.
So, I finally got a chance to read your blog!! You're off to a very good start. :D I wish I could write.
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