Good old retired Gumshoe found myself this Sunday afternoon(after church services) heating-up some left-overs consisting of my wife’s great-tasting meatloaf (accompanied by some fluffy mash potatoes of course!).
While I nuked the tasty loaf and the creamy spuds, I did some reading from a newly arrived book from Amazon and I simultaneously listened to one of the TV news shows.
Multi-tasking indeed you might say? Sensory overload? Attention deficit disorder?
None of the above, just Gumshoe being normal in my book. My hands touched the book pages and my eyes read the printed words while my ears listened to the spoken words.
My sense of smell, as well as my tastebuds, were aroused by the aroma of Linnie’s Heavenly meatloaf that soon arrived via fork to my open mouth that immediately satisfied my hunger. A Sunday afternoon feast for my senses!
“Amazing”, I thought and then another thought entered my unencumbered mind – how do I know things? How do we know things? Through our innate senses? Through our intuition? Through natural instinct? Through years of training, education, trial, and error? Was it possibly “monkey see, monkey do? (I sincerely apologize to all of the furry primates out there.)
I then thought about my many years of wearing a badge and toting a “big iron” on my hip. (Great song “Big Iron” by Marty Robbins) I just knew what to do almost automatically on the other end of the various “911” calls running the gambit from the mundane to the murderous.
Driving a “black and white”, listening to the police radio; listening to the FM radio; paying attention to the “scanner”; watching the road; observing suspicious and out of place activity or persons; wondering about department gossip; monitoring police calls outside my beat; thinking about what to eat and where to eat for my Code 7 (meal break); recalling wanted suspects and wanted vehicles; glancing at my computer screen for pending calls – just normal!
My natural “cop rhythm” developed and matured as I sojourned through many uncharted human miseries, heartbreaks and trials of the soul. I just “knew” what had to done where moments before, I did not have a clue. My cop mind came to the rescue!
Divine guidance? Instructions from the mothership? Dumb luck? Beginner’s luck? Ying and Yang? Karma? Vicissitudes of fortune? GPS?
Maybe all of the above I suppose, but I strongly suspected (looking back now in time) that it was God working anonymously by putting me exactly where I belonged – not a moment too soon nor a moment too late!
Well, now back to my left-over lunch with some Girl Scout cookies for dessert. (Thin Mints fresh from the freezer – a taste of Heaven with some fat-free milk).
Till next time dear readers. Remember to love the ones who love you and to especially love the who don’t.
Danny, AKA Gumshoe: I don’t multitask. My wife says I live life with blinders. If I am reading, I know not what goes on around me, nor do I hear the music playing, nor anyone speaking to me. I don’t know why. Perhaps it is a learned condition by trying to stay focussed when working 16-17 hours a day for weeks on end. Maybe it is just the way I’m wired. Then there is the possibility that my brain simply doesn’t have the capacity to do more than a single thing at one time.
As to why we know what we know, I suspect that it is all the options you mention rolled into a total package.
Clarity of thought and of action for a clear purpose is a beautiful thing Ken.
Good golly Gumshoe! I thoght for a moment you had undergone Epistemolgy surgery! Sounded very painful! Glad to hear all is well and you are still in multi-functioning mode; quite an accomplishment at your young age! (assuming you live to 250). Doesn’t get much better than meatloaf and mashed taters! My multi-tasking capabilities do not extend beyond breathing and a heart beat……as soon as I add #3 I’m in deep doo doo! Enjoy!
Thanks bro for your witty comments. I am still recovering from the surgery – I did not feel a thing!
Another great read up hills, down hills, around the corner, down the street but finally we come to the end and it’s meaning. Epistemology. How do we know what we know? Only God knows.
You almost lost me Linnie through the hills but you arrived at the right destination as you always do.