Cirque de Rockford

In the midst of a stormy afternoon, the girls and I trekked across town to welcome in the wonder of the Circus. The Shriners were in town; white shirted men, mostly in their 50's and 60's greeted us - welcomed us - to the Tebala Shriner Circus. The shriners were jolly; as they laughed their tassled beanies waved at us. Glittery gold, the hats shined in the lights of the big top, although the 'tent' was not made out of canvas but aluminum, like a big Morton like building.

Excitement always seems to ride high at the circus and even though I have not been to one in many, many years, I was swiftly transported to my childhood as the sounds of pseud-calliope played traditional circus music. Smells, they say, are the closest link to memory and the smells of the circus are legendary. Salty smell of buttered popcorn, cotton candy wrapped on little sticks; little children smiling with fresh gooey faces of hotdogs and candy, holding brand new unnecessary toys in their hands. There were smells of acrid sweat; it was hot - kids were hot, parents were hotter trying to keep up with the little hands tugging on their big hands, "Look at that, Mommy! See the elephants! Did you hear the lion roaring?" Ah, and the smell of the lions and tigers and elephants - oh my!

The circus can't run with out the performing elephants, or tigers, or ponies. The circus wouldn't last without the acrobats who make little children stare dropped jawed at their two story antics. The trapeze artist (who interestingly crossed herself twice before getting on to the rings) soared through the air, her hair whistling as she raced through a sea of rising bubbles. Everybody loves the performers; everybody loves the colors; everybody loves the clowns (well, almost everybody). These are the jobs that young children want to emulate when they go home. They fight over who gets to be the lion tamer and who gets to be the juggler. Leaping from sofas and sometimes the stairs, they all want to be the one that goes higher and faster.

One job, I would guess, stands very low on the list for job applications. Near the end of the show, when the elephants were about to perform on their little stools, a man came out with a large green bucket. Positioning himself behind the elephant whose posterior was roughly ten feet in the air, the man began to catch elephant droppings in mid flight. I don't know the man's qualifications for this job or perhaps he was simply on someone's "list", but talk about a terrible job. That, of course, is just my opinion. As the man would catch excrement from quite an altitude, an impassive, resigned look stayed on his face.

Not many people noticed the "Scat Man" - I'm not sure if that was his job title. Not many people paid attention to the task that he took on. Not many people, if any, would volunteer for that job, but his job, like all the others, help make the circus run smoothly. There are many jobs that are thankless and, pardon the pun, simply stink. These often thankless occupations help to make a society run smoothly. Not everyone can be the star, the idol, the power player. Not everyone holds a degree in lunar technology. Nobody aspires to be a scat man, but I want to thank the scat man for opening my eyes to life, to enjoy my work that I do, and even though their are times when life is unpleasant, those duties have to be done.

Part of enjoy life is simply realizing that Life Is a Circus. There are times when we are flying; there are times when we are falling; there are times when clowning is as natural as breathing, and there are times when we have to do the dirty jobs.

Life is a circus, my friends. Life is a circus.