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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A Theology of Flyers

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They are on every corner. Old men, starving actors, and recent MBA grads all with the same mission. To hand me a flyer.

New York City is filled with flyer-passer-outers. They invite me to come to the Lost Film Fest, the Patron Concert Tour staring T.I, and the Strictly For Ladies Party with DJ Fuzzy Navel. They tell me I should have my palm read, my neck massaged, and my colon cleansed via a state of the art hydrotherapy (fancy speak for water up my pooper). Sometimes they give me free samples of gum, water, or M&M ice cream treats. Each time I come face to face with one of these flyer-passer-outers I am faced with a dillema. Do I take the flyer or do I walk on by?

My gut tells me to ignore them. Just keep your head down and walk on by. However, I cannot imagine the rejection they must feel. Can you imagine people purpusefully avoiding eye contact with you for eight hours? That would get old. As a man who was days away from looking for temporary work, I feel for the struggling young people giving me flyers for NY Tour Busses. That could have been me.

And so I take the flyer. But what am I supposed to do with this 8 x 11.5, neon green advertisement for this weekend's Wall-Mart protest? I throw it away. I take a glance and throw it in the trash. You may be thinking, "so what"? The truth is that I lived in SEA for too long and the green in me shivers at the thought of waste. If I take a flyer (freebie, sticker, etc) I feel awful wasting it. NYC has very few receycling recepiticles so it can't even be recycled. Just straight into the trash. Even worse...don't tell my wife...sometimes I just drop them on the ground.

So I am stuck. When Amy, the ex-chorus member in Spamalot is standing on the corner trying to convince me that her new bottled water will increase my bone density, what am I to do?

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Kj said...

ask if you can take their photo instead and make a blog collage of flyer hander-outers.

or cross the street to get as far as you can from them

Unknown said...

Good heart Jarrod, Good Heart. I actually think it would be more effective and attracting to have a live demonstration of the colon cleanser.

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