"See Dick Run".....

Friends:
“See Dick Run”…

“ Against the wind, I’m still running against the wind,
Well I’m older now and still running against the wind.” Bob Seger lyrics


" See Dick run,” prescient words in the Dick and Jane primer written in the 1930’s by Dr. Bill Gray, a man who knew something about human nature. These were perhaps the first words many of us read as we entered 1st. grade…remember? Dick was joined in his activities by Jane, Spot, Tim, Puff, Mom and Dad.

Somehow I think Dr. Gray used “Dick” in a metaphorical sense for “us,” and it’s interesting if you look at it that way. Wonder why “run” was the action verb, instead of See Dick sit, sleep, hide, eat, etc? I think he was preparing “Dick” for his life’s work: Running. And it’s surely a way of life in our culture. Dick was a running fool!

Take a look at him:
* See Dick Run: helter-skelter for fun, later organized high school track meets;
* See Dick Compete in college, the job market;
* See Dick Balance a career and families…run faster, Dick;
* See Dick Exercise…more running, faster…keep the heart fit—Why? more running!
* See Dick Borrow…gotta keep up with the Joneses;
* See Dick Buy…cars, houses, vacations, stuff; buy, buy, buy.
* See Dick Panic…not enough, not enough…run, run, run;
* See Dick Hide…but where, I’m looking, I’m looking?

Dick had a dog, Spot…he chased his tail like dogs do. Then there were the Prideful Tigers in the Helen Bannerman tale of Little Black Sambo, written in 1899. We don’t know what became of Spot, but the Tigers ran so fast in a circle that they became a pool of butter, spread on the 169 pancakes Sambo ate. Some stories have a happy ending. Yet Dick is still running.

Poor Dick: he finds that Time is running, too, and he’s about to run out of it. The world of “what-if, not-enough, if-only” gets in the way of retirement, and besides all that, the price of gas is up, his home equity vaporized, Visa maxed out and his 401 (K) is sinking fast. Dick’s been running so long he doesn’t know another lifestyle, so in desperation he changes Parties and votes Democrat, where the promise of Redistribution is the last hope. “Let our children run for awhile,” he says…"I’m out of gas!”

“Running on empty, running blind; Running into the sun, but I’m running behind.”
Jackson Browne Lyrics

See Dick Quit. Sitting in the declining rays of the Florida sun in Garden Hills Retirement Village, Dick figures it all out, but it’s too late to do much about it…remorse sets in. He commiserates with the other Unfortunates how the deck was stacked against him. He thinks of the Biblical Job and sighs, “I should have run faster when I could,” his lament blending with the common liturgical voice of his companions. Dick thinks, "What kind of ending is this for a man who has run all his life?" He curses the heavens. He thinks his epitaph will be the famous words of Joe Louis, uttered in 1946, “He can run, but he cannot Hide.” Billy Conn lost that heavyweight fight, you recall!

Some questions remain unanswered in the Dick and Jane primer, like, “What became of Jane?” We can only speculate, but it’d be my guess she got pregnant, had a lot of little Dicks and Janes and suffered right along side of her husband (or husbands)…cooking, washing, cleaning, nursing, enduring and finally getting a night job at Wal-Mart. Just speculation.

We’re always looking for closure with a fairy-tale ending, like, “And they all lived happily ever after.” Is there one within the barrage of bad news today? Not for a lot of folks, unfortunately…life looks bleak. While I don’t know about you, I’m upping my running mileage, just in case!

“See Dick Run…” and you might want to take a good look at yourself while there’s still time !!!

Bud
March 6, 2008