Nerve Endings Firing Away

The funeral procession wound its way through the busy thoroughfare along Tulsi Pipe Lane amidst chanting of the lord’s name. The somber faces of pallbearers, clad in white reflected either tiredness or boredom but never sadness as we expect. The less-able mourners brought up the rear and managed to keep up the rushed pace of the procession. A shower of coins, mostly in low denominations rained down upon the shrouded corpse. Almost instantly, the accompanying urchins from the neighboring slums made a beeline, gathering up as many coins as their tiny palms could hold. The money of death made no difference to them if it bought them their next meal.

A chatter of excited noises at the plaza near an affluent Atlanta theater implied teenagers doing their “hanging out” routine and playing cool. Teenaged girls with plunging necklines and rising hemlines teased the guys with wrinkled shorts from really old old navy. Puppy love was in the air as hormones jostled for the opposite sex’s attention. The guy in blue wanted his wallet from the girl in pink. She threw it at him and a shower of quarters and dimes hit the pavement. Neither gave it a second look and rushed away. Nor did anyone glance at the enriched pavement for a solid twenty minutes. Finally a bored boyfriend waiting for his late girlfriend (as always) caught the glint of the coins in the setting sun’s light. He stooped down to gather them up as his girlfriend arrived. She didn’t hesitate to stuff her bounty into her already engorged purse. They will pay a little less from their pocket for the Spidey flick.

Free money evokes similar behavior anywhere. But does it really matter?