A Little Diddy (About Jack and Diane)

The land of opportunity, the melting pot that sits waiting to be filled – America’s marketing pitch. America is the land of the new. Seeking new frontiers, entrepreneurial industriousness, inventions. There’s something of the fighting spirit in newness, always up for a challenge, never backing down. And the proverbial underdog that pants on the floor (in front of the stove, just to keep my metaphor going), overcoming the obstacles we all know he will.
Maybe the flame got too high. Maybe we left the stove on as we rushed out the door to begin our day already stamped with banality. When things get overcooked, they get tough, sticky, mired in their own juices, and even a little pathetic. They lose their flavor, and jilted intentions fall victim to condiments. Bar-b-que sauce, ketchup, soysauce, A-1...smoothed and smothered over the inedibles. The caserole is passed off as dinner, but its hesitant onlookers know something’s amiss. But we eat it anyway, in the spirit of trying something new, knowing all the while that what we’ve been served is a poor imitation of what we deserve.