Trapped!

There’s a story I heard about this guy from Galway who couldn’t read or write. I heard it because I teach people literacy skills and they teach me life skills. Well anyways, this guy was offered a job cleaning toilets, so he was delighted with himself, because bad and all as it might be, it was a job, and there were plenty who didn’t have jobs. The day before he was due to start he went up to the council office to get everything sorted, brought along his insurance number and all that jazz. He was asked to fill out a form and when he couldn’t the council guy said that sorry, but he couldn’t give him the job if he couldn’t read or write. So off goes yer man with no job and emigrates to America.

Well years later he came back to Galway a rich man. He’d driven a snow plough in the States, saved like mad and ended up running his own business hiring out equipment. The local politicians were delighted with him returning home and bringing a bit of wealth to the area. He set up a similar business in Galway and now employs about a dozen people. So one day, one of these smart politicians says to him ‘you’re a very clever man, imagine what you could have done with your life had you been able to read and write.’ And of course yer man says, ‘yeah, just imagine, I could have been cleaning toilets!’

Well there you go, stories are great. That’s why I started the Loose Lips Story Slam with Tommy Tiernan last February. So if you live anywhere near Galway, come along to the Roisin Dubh next Wednesday at 9pm and tell your story or listen to a whole load of other peoples stories. I’ve been gobsmacked with the stuff people get up and tell an audience. If you don’t live in Galway, get on a bus, train or plane and come along. This month the theme is ‘trapped’, and I am very looking forward to it, as I myself am a fat person trapped in the body of an obese person. I was trapped in a lift once, but I won’t be telling that story as the fact that I will be there to tell the story ruins the suspense as it’s kind of obvious that it ended in my rescue. However, for those trapped in their own heads, trapped in relationships, jobs, situations and all kinds of wacky things that I haven’t thought about but am sure to hear, the night will be great.

So, if, like some of my readers, you relate my blog to your own personal situation, you may wish to comment with your ‘trapped’ experience, or do you feel trapped by words themselves?