Drunk and Disorderly

Uncle Bubba was recently in Citrus County, Florida hanging out with a few good friends. They were sitting in a tiki bar called the Freezer in the little town of Homosassa on the Gulf of Mexico. The place was packed, people were talking and laughing, the music was loud, the boiled shrimp were awesome, and the drinks were flowing; after all it is a bar. Seated at the table next to Bubbie were what appeared to be two families sitting together and thoroughly enjoying themselves. They were eating some of the incredible fare that is available at the bar and they had several pitchers of cold beer that was being imbibed by, at the very least, the men at the table. There was a young girl at the table who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old and Uncle Bubba thought to himself that he hoped that whoever was driving was not too drunk to get that little girl safely home. In Bubbie's view, if an adult wants to drink and drive and run the chance of the probable destruction that come with it, then they have that right and if something horrible results from their actions then so be it. But a child is defenseless, left to the decisions and actions of the adults that drink at an establishment and then put the child in the car to drive to the next destination.

Flash forward to December 31, 2011 and Uncle Bubba is back in Citrus County visiting over the holidays. Folks are sitting in a festive living room visiting with the TV on when a very disturbing video of what appears to be an actual car accident pops up on the TV screen. A car is flipped over with people still inside and 2 cops talking to a person in the vehicle. For a moment Uncle Bubba thinks that someone has changed the channel to the TV show "Cops" and he quickly looks around the room to see who has the remote. Uncle Bubba abstains from those types of reality shows because they are too grotesque and distressful and if you've read this blog you know that it's Bubbie's view that this type of programming is to the detriment of our society. If we could handle it, and wanted to be a party to it, we would become cops or paramedics. But most of us are not, and we don't want it piped into our homes, our safe sanctuaries from the troubling world. So Uncle Bubba sees the remote on the ottoman in front of him and realizing that no one has touched it asks,
"What IS this?"
Everyone is staring at the TV a little shocked.
"I don't know?"
Then the Citrus County Sheriff flashes onto the screen to address the dangers of drinking and driving. It was a local PSA commercial! But not only that, the Sheriff is one of the men that was sitting at the table in the Freezer drinking beer next to the little girl! Yes, the symbol of lawfulness, the bastion of societal morality! The same man that takes the liberty to pollute the road shoulders of every major intersection of the county with wrecked vehicles draped with yellow crime tape to warn citizens of the dangers of drinking and driving during the holidays! The same man that was sitting in a bar drinking beer and then walked out to a car and rode away. In Bubbie's view, American citizens should be holding our elected officials to the highest ethical standards, which should be easy because they should be doing the same of themselves.