The Impossible Corner

We are zooming through the month of May, and I’ve written nary a word on Without Obligation. Time to rectify that.

The title of today’s post, “The Impossible Corner,” sounds like it could be describing the constant existential threats U.S. democracy is facing at the hands of Donald Trump, his sycophantic enablers, and the billionaire monopolists. While I could shout at length about all of these topics (like Trump’s outright theft of $1.776 billion from taxpayers through the IRS), I will resist that urge and present you with a photo of a literal impossible corner.

This is the exam room in a local medical clinic. In the corner of the room near the exam table, there is a window facing a wall that is less than twelve inches away.

I’m not sure why anyone would design a window that faces a wall … and only partially, at that. You can’t use this corner for anything, except maybe storing a broom, and who would do that in an exam room?

Aside from the impracticality and wasted space of this corner, I also look at it from the standpoint of the person who had to hang the sheetrock, mud and tape it, paint the corner, and install the baseboard. There is absolutely no room to work in this corner! Unless the window wasn’t installed when these wall surfaces were finished and the contractor(s) worked through the open window. That’s not likely, however, so whoever was stuck doing this job probably did a lot of swearing. I know I would if I’d had to do it.

Yet, somehow, they managed to finish the impossible corner and make neat work of it. Kudos to them! And “Boo!” to the architect!

And that’s a lesson for our democracy. Trump and his corrupt cronies may think they are putting the American people into an impossible corner, but we’re going to find a way out of it and improve the corner while we’re at it.