All the Lonely People...with informercials

In the English language there are no adjectives that sufficiently describe the brilliance of the Beatles, particularly the lyrical geniuses of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. "Eleanor Rigby" is a masterpiece. In very few words and a simple, haunting chorus, Paul (yes, I think it was he who directly penned that one) captured the epitome of loneliness . a desolate old lady scrounging for leftover rice from a wedding at a church compared with a priest at the same church sitting up at night contemplating the futility of his life.

The Coffeewallahs recent post, http://coffeewallah.blogspot.com/2009/03/troublesome-offspring.html , talked about late night infomercials. Coffeewallah was wondering out loud who actually bought these things.

It brought to mind a story someone shared with me. this was someone who was facilitating a program I was attending in my previous, corporate life. The gentleman was a Brit and he was quite an engaging and personable guy.

Over quite a few beers, discussion got to those infomercials. He confessed that his mum had passed away only a few months before. Their dad had died decades before and the two only sons lived quite far away from their mum. Visits were in often and sadly their mum had passed away alone. The brothers made their way to her house f

Her garage was filled with dozens upon dozens of boxes. They were shipping boxes, containing kitchen gadgets, self-help cds and myriad of items all sold in these infomercials. The boxes had never been opened. They also discovered another surprise - she had racked up an enormous credit card debt.

The brothers figured that she consoled her lonely nights by watching infomercials and 'interacting' with the persons on them by , well, ordering their stuff.

I guess this old lady was her own "Eleanor Rigby".