Burn baby burn! Burn baby burn! Burn baby burn! Burn baby burn! Burnin'!
To mass fires, yes! One hundred stories high
People gettin' loose y'all gettin' down on the roof - Do you hear?
(the folks are flaming) Folks were screamin' - out of control
It was so entertainin' - when the boogie started to explode
I heard somebody say...
- The Trammps 1977 "Disco Inferno"
While the music thumped in the background you held your white wine cooler and leaned on the bar, your wrap dress snug against your Legg's All-in-one Panty and Hose. You saw him from across the room, his Angel's Flight jacket unzipped exposing a manicured hairy chest with an astrological sign nestled safely in the furry crevice of his clavicle.
Your Bonne Bell glossed lips part as he steps up next to you His lips pucker and then he opens his mouth and you hear "What's your sign?"
Ahhh..... that was way back then. Back when the economy was deep in an oil embargo, New York City was teetering on bankruptcy, and everyone had a job. Now you can probably count more friends out of work than you have ever had in recent memory. As an observer of social conversations, I have noticed people asking "What do you do?", which is a polite version of "Do you have a job?" as the replacement of "What's your sign?". We care less about your spiritual life and more about your economic status.
Who are you?
In the last two decades we judged one another by our cars, houses, designer labels but that all got swept away by an economic tsunami of our own making. It is my hope that we replace "What do you do?" with "What's your sign?", not in the same tone as a cheap pick up line, but as in how are you living your life spiritually rather than materially. Who you are is not what you wrap yourself in, but what is under that wrapping. So who are you?
Image: ophelia chong / Decision
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What a fascinating insight. As a recent college grad, I all too vividly remember being bored to death with queries into my intended major. I made a point after the first week to never ask these questions, instead opting for ANYTHING else. Now, however, I am noticing the 'what do you do?' question leaving my mouth from time to time. Maybe it's time to put a clamp on that too.