I was in a meeting one time where someone read the very touching story of "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf" by Leo Buscaglia. Freddie's a leaf, it's fall, and his life span is over. Down he goes. It's a story that illustrates what it is to die. Counselors go nuts with this kind of stuff. You're in grief, they read you this story and cry. Then you pass the counselors' lounge on the way out and you hear them laughing it up, "Yeah, I read him the leaf story. Easiest 50 bucks I made all week!"Ever since hearing the leaf story I've been on the lookout for every other possible inanimate thing's story. Today's picture, the shopping carts lined up outside, ready to do their job when the time comes, surely has something of this in it. "Your time hasn't come yet, baby, you got a few dreams to go," as an Elvis song says it. "But when it comes your heart will know."
The downfall to my story, though, has to be the very cyclical nature of the shopping cart's life. A leaf sprouts out once, then falls to be replaced with different leaves. But shopping carts are used over and over. A better fable would be on the aging process, more apt really than lining up to do a task, then to be retired. Every cart is new at some point but they don't last forever.
OK, there they are. It's your time to shine, brother! The customer is getting ready to choose you! Carry her groceries and other items with pride. Don't wobble. Look out for children. The best report a shopping cart can get is no report, because that means everything went well. The only time people mention a shopping cart is when there's a complaint.
