Flea Market

I went to the Uptown Bill’s Labor Day Flea Market yesterday. I sold two cards for a total of three dollars. I had spent the night before anxiously preparing mounted prints of some of my original pieces of art. People were more interested in the cards. RDA and Doug (a friend) sold more stuff than I did. This made me bitter and brought out the cynic in me.

Suddenly the flea market was a metaphor for life in America. There we were, booth after booth of us, sweating in the sun hoping that someone would notice us - trading our junk to each other in an endless cycle of consumption. My new stuff today is tomorrow’s junk. Won’t you please buy some of my junk so that I can buy some more new stuff? Please, please buy so that I can go home feeling successful. Please, please notice me so that I can feel loved.

Fortunately, while I was musing on the meaninglessness of it all, a fly from the nearby dumpster landed on my arm. It was just looking for a meal. Rather than kill it I brushed it off. It kept coming back until finally it distracted me from my thinking. I went and bought a hamburger for myself and hot dogs for RDA and Doug. When Doug saw my hamburger he was disappointed with his hot dog.

Just like me I thought. Rather than being glad at having sold two cards; rather than enjoying the sunshine; rather than loving life for what I have I had momentarily chosen to dwell on what I did not have. Once I did this I became poor and dissatisfied with myself and everyone around me. Cynical thinking can end with me returning to the hospital. Thank you David. Thank you Universe. Thank you fly. Thank you dumpster.

By the way my art is still for sale. The price? You have to ask for it. I anticipate much better sales from this point forward. Perhaps I will branch out to eBay!

See todays MORE FLEA MARKET PIX for more photos of the flea market.