The Little People
When my second wife, who grew up in a CIA family, first used the term the little people I thought she was referring to Leprechauns and Fairies. “No! Stupid. . . I mean, like . . . check out girls, baggers, stock boys, clerks, the hairdresser, mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, roofers, etc.…. you know, all those people we have to deal with.”
“Oh.” I said… trying to wrap y head around how all those respectful, courteous, wise, dedicated, skilled, and compassionate people could be lumped together that way. I guessed it had something to do with her perspective.
Under the Covid tyranny, we learned the government’s label for the ‘the little people’ was ‘essential workers’…. with notable exceptions … i.e., small businesspeople, restaurant and hospitality works, and many others, who ultimately became lumped under new general categories such as the lazy unemployed and the homeless. … Oh, excuse me, what are the new terms? Are they income free and residence free? (that’s SO much more respectful…he says sardonically). I found I was among the little people when my 2nd wife locked me out of the house making me literally residence free. So, I was homeless for several years and I can tell you, it can cramp your style. At least I had a car and a credit card left from my old life. I maxed out the card and the car eventually got me back to West Virginia. I wouldn’t have made it if it weren’t for some wonderful ‘little people’ along the way.
In Doddridge I discovered, at a County Commission meeting, that the term here for the ‘the little people’ is ‘the wrong people’ … i.e. (and I paraphrase) We have to pay over-market prices for these houses to tear them down so ‘the wrong people’ don’t move in . . . we have to demolish the old opera house so ‘the wrong people’ don’t gain control. I was told by someone, whom others call ‘Mr. Republican’, that after I interviewed and became friends with Bill Whitehill, I was consorting with ‘the wrong people’. How tiresome that the people who ‘rule over us’, consider practically everyone ‘the wrong people’. Please tell me how our local ‘rulers’ are any different than the Biden.
Not that I’ve worked years turning an old bar into my home on lower Columbia St. a situation arose that threatens to make me homeless once again. A water leak began injecting tens of thousands of gallons of water under pressure through a below grade pipe into the sandstone under my building. You’ve heard of hydraulic fracking, often used to develop direction or horizontal wells … what my property experienced, is a version of that. Clay particles that bind sand together to make it into sandstone are flushed out which can open up ancient fissures and create cavitations, Extra large cavitations cause sink holes. When I first noticed the leak in early August, I informed the town. Initially, I was told they’d fix it by the end of the week … 56 days later the water was finally stopped. Not only are there erosion and potential stability issues…black mold has been popping up. I contacted BASEMENT AUTHORITY of WV and the came right out to assess the situation. Two days later they installed a high-capacity industrial dehumidifier (it wasn’t cheap). In time, this should address the high humidity problems created by the injection flooding… however there are other issues as noted above.
When I went to the Town Council meeting t make a case for compensation, can you guess what happened? I was treated by the mayor as one of ‘the wrong people’. Standard procedure for our local ruling class.
Round two next month. We little people have to keep standing up or they’ll continue to take everything they can from us. Been through things like this before… as I’m sure you have.
An Awkwardly large, little person, Dale Michels.