Irish KC : A Blog

Kansas City's Irish Festivals, Music, Pubs & Events

Friday, May 05, 2006

Ireland & USA: Little Differences #1

TENNIS BALLS

I walk and cycle all over Kansas City and pass several tennis balls on the street every day. Most of them are newish.

I walked and cycled even more all over Dublin yet you could count on one hand the number of times I have found tennis balls in Ireland. And they were never newish.

A few years ago I used to go to a park regularly here in Kansas City's Midtown. Usually I would intend, but forget, to bring a tennis ball, yet I'd continue for I'd know I'd always find one there. Always. Not sometimes, not mostly, but always. And I did. And no, the park wasn't anywhere near a tennis court.

Today I passed a few on differewnt streets, and I left them where they lay for I knew they were probably owned by the kids in the house they were nearest, or across the street, or down the street, or somewhere close by. And I already have forty-seven balls at home.

I think of throwing things away as throwing money away, and in Kansas City much more people have money to throw away - or their parents' money - and the money bounces all furry and luminous as the people go off looking for some more money to throw away.

See also: Ireland & USA: Little Differences #2

1 Comments:

At 9:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How very true this is. It depends so much on how you were raised. I grew up in a lower income family with four kids we kept everything till it couldn't be used again.

 

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