{"id":3862,"date":"2024-02-02T12:04:13","date_gmt":"2024-02-02T17:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=3862"},"modified":"2024-02-02T12:04:13","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T17:04:13","slug":"i-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=3862","title":{"rendered":"I wonder…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wonder\u2026<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re sitting in a doctor\u2019s waiting room or at an auto service provider waiting to be seen or for a service to be performed, sometimes your mind wanders, especially if you forgot to bring a book and are disinterested in whatever they have blasting on their TV. The longer the wait, the more things you come up with to think about. You fall into a trance, a dream-like state. Your thoughts create scenarios with infinite possibilities. Some raise questions, and others imagine impossibilities coming to fruition. Like what I\u2019m writing right now\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I wonder what would happen if\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 there were no political parties, and just one called the human race.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 those who look down on people with disabilities would get to experience those disabilities for a period of time?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 gender, race, age, and religious equality were not words in any language because they were the norm rather than needing to be asked for.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 subscription costs for things like newspapers, TV, Internet, and phone services were divided equally among all customers rather than making some pay more, so discounts could be given to new enrollees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 we could travel anywhere in the world we wanted instantaneously.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 people would listen to reason rather than rhetoric and unsubstantiated misinformation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 we all cared for each other rather than only ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 the only disease we had to prevent and protect ourselves from was ignorance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 animals could communicate with us.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 there was life on other planets, and we could learn from each other and coexist.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 vehicles focused more on conserving energy and being more efficient rather than being built for speeds that should never be reached.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 we actually did what was necessary to mitigate climate change and environmental destruction in our lifetimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 filling out forms, like tax and financial applications for loans, was a simple process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 we didn\u2019t have to pay that extra 3.5% on goods and services if we used a credit card.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 the Mets and Islanders would actually win the World Series and Stanley Cup.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Someone appears to be talking to me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cExcuse me, what did you just say? The doctor can\u2019t see me now because he\u2019s waiting to get his car back from the dealer who has him on hold, and I have to reschedule, as your office hours have ended.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you will reschedule me?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, sir, since our office hours are over, you\u2019ll have to call back tomorrow; our office hours are from 9 – 5 every day, except for tomorrow\u2026and the next day\u2026 and\u2026, or you can reschedule on our website, provided it\u2019s not overloaded with users trying to schedule.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll think about it,\u201d was my reply as I got up to leave.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wonder that any of us get anywhere in this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wonder\u2026 When you\u2019re sitting in a doctor\u2019s waiting room or at an auto service provider waiting to be seen or for a service to be performed, sometimes your mind wanders, especially if you forgot to bring a book and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9,7],"tags":[442,177],"class_list":["post-3862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-stories","category-personal-stories","category-story-writing","tag-wonder","tag-writing-prompt"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3865,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3862\/revisions\/3865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}