Guest Voice: From the Frying Pan Into The Fire, And Back To The Showers–At Home
May 12th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
This Guest Voice post is by Watching America translator Dorian de Wind, who is also a retired U.S. Air Force officer. Guest Voice posts do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of TMV and its writers.
From the Frying Pan into the Fire, and Back to the Showers–at Home
by Dorian de Wind
Political scandals–there are so many of them these days-seem to have a very short shelf life, perhaps with the exception of those involving the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. These are kept alive forever on the now-famous “endless loop” by the righteous media.
One of those scandals rapidly fading from most people’s memories is Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s “episode” in that men’s restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport almost a year ago now.
Somehow, that incident and its repercussions must have still been fresh on my mind when I was taking a shower at our fitness center recently.
Let me explain.
As a 68-year-old senior–straight, I should add–I am in dire need of some kind of physical activity to stay fit. So I do various stretching exercises while in the shower at home. One of these exercises involves standing tip-toe and stretching and rotating each arm in a circular motion high above my head.
After joining our local fitness center, I saw no reason for not continuing these exercises at the center while taking a shower after my swimming and steam room routine.
During one of my first exercise sessions there, I happened to glance at the opaque-glass separation between my shower and the adjoining one and saw the silhouette of another shower taker. I froze in mid-exercise when it suddenly dawned on me that my neighbor could surely see my hand and arm waving motions. Remembering the Larry Craig episode and not wanting my waving to be misconstrued, I instantly stopped my exercise and slinked out of the shower and eventually out of the center.
On my way home, I mulled the whole incident over and for an instant–just an instant–I felt a pang of pity for the senator. What if his gestures in that airport restroom had been misconstrued?
Just for an instant, because then I remembered the anti-gay words and anti-gay legislative initiatives by the senator from Idaho, and my compassion for him–gay or not gay–quickly evaporated.
On the way home, I concluded that the showers at the center were not the right place for my exercises.
Missing my exercise routine, however, I decided a few days later that the steam room at the fitness center would be a good place for resuming my stretching exercises–but only when I found myself alone there.
It was all going well until the other morning. That is when two concerned fellow fitness center enthusiasts, who had discerned my strenuous arm-waving through the thick clouds of steam, rushed into the steam room, ready to rescue me and to summon all kinds of medical assistance. After somewhat oafishly explaining that everything was OK, I decided that the steam room was not the right venue for my stretching exercises either.
So, it’s back to the showers for me now–the ones at home.
And it’s back to the other stories for the media—you know, the stories that keep on endlessly looping, and giving endless hope to Republicans.
Dorian de Wind is a retired U.S. Air Force Officer, born in Ecuador and educated in The Netherlands. He has a bachelor’s degree from of Texas A&M University and a master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. Dorian has written opinion pieces and travel and other articles for the Austin American-Statesman and for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. He also translates Dutch press articles for watchingamerica.com.
This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 12:15 am and is filed under Scandals, Humor, Larry Craig, Guest Contributor, Republicans, 2008 Elections, Media Criticism, Democrats, Politics. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
