Which is worse? (And more)

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

An article in the Wall Street Journal last week featured an exit on I-25 in Colorado where Buc-ee’s, the convenience store/gas station company, wants to build one of it giant stores (70,000 square feet, over 100 gas pumps).  I was feeling a bit sympathetic for the locals until I read that the largest landowner in the area is one of the individuals who has made piles of money in the cable television business (and it was not Ted Turner).

If you haven’t been in a Buc-ee’s, it is worth the trip. There is one on I-75 in Kentucky. I think you could spend a day in their store. The best I can tell it is wholesome. If there is a negative, it is this: Buc-ee’s  will get you to spend all your money on the kids before you get to Disneyworld. But then again, maybe you can just turn around and come home, saving the rest of the drive to Florida.

Now, you need to remember the story about my dad throwing out the TV when “Mr. Ed” debuted. I’ve told it here before. As the TV went out, Dad said, “My boys are not going to grow up watching a talking horse in a plywood box.” 

So, I have a built-in bias about television.

Well, Mr. Cable Guy here brought a lot more than "Mr. Ed" into people’s houses. There is no comparison between Buc-ee’s and cable TV when it comes to wholesomeness. 

And more…

One of my measures of the deterioration of society is the state of public restrooms. If it continues, they might as well just eliminate them and send you out behind the building as in days of old. No flushing, paper all over the floor. What are people thinking? How were they raised?

But today I saw something that beat even the restrooms. I went into my local grocery. Sometimes I get a powered riding buggy, sometimes I don’t. As I came in, I noticed someone sitting at one of these buggies eating their lunch. 

I did not intend to get one, but when I went down the cola aisle, there was a sale – three for the price of two. So, I decided to go back to the front of the store and get one of the buggies.

When I got there, the person eating their lunch was gone, but they had left all the trash from their lunch in the buggy basket. Was there an absence of trash cans? No! There was one right beside the buggy.

No wonder we have such sour and dour attitudes in this country. If we cannot pick up after ourselves, that says something about our self-worth.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.