The more I think about it, the more I have come to admire the Blue Suit. First off, he is unique among all suits hanging on racks across the nation in clothing stores and at shopping centers. He can talk, walk, eat, and digest food. He can think and reason. He has insight into his life, into life itself. He is an expert at everything Everett. He understands the local political scene. He doesn’t just understand it. He lives it. As many of us might say, he walks the walk and talks the talk. He is the penultimate insider in a city where insiders rule.
Wherever he goes he is recognized. Men and women ask him for his autograph. He gets high-fived in Everett Square. And he is kind to everyone coming up to him – friend and foe alike.
With me, Josh Resnek, he is a great friend. Or I should say, he has become a great friend.
It was only natural at first that we were at odds with one another. After all, we come from different places and are employed by people who are well known and respected but vastly different in how we meet life head-on.
The Blue Suit has not an ounce of jealousy. He is quite comfortable in his own skin, so to speak.
He is uninterested in what others have. He cares about what he wants and what he needs to be the best Everett resident he can be. He watches the kaleidoscope of life here through a wide angle lens. He wants the whole picture about life in Everett, not just a part of it. Can you imagine…he is a blue, cloth suit who defies science by living and breathing, thinking and reasoning, having his say and listening to others.
Charles Darwin would have been amazed to meet the Blue Suit.
You can bet on that!
Darwin believed that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor and that everything living on the earth has evolved from that common ancestry and that we’re all connected.
The Blue Suit has told me lately he is rethinking himself.
He is viewing life through a different prism, he has told me. “What do you mean?” I ask him repeatedly when he says things like that.
“I mean I’m rethinking my life, what I want to be, who I wish to hang out with, how I want to be considered and all that stuff,” he recently said to me during a ride around Everett on a sunny day.
“I have to tell, you, Josh,” he said to me, “I’ve grown tired of the fight. Why does everything have to be a fight? Can’t we all just get along?” he asked rhetorically.
We looked at one another, then we smiled knowingly.
“No we can’t all just get along with one another,” the Blue Suit added.
“You’ve got that right,” I answered.
“We’re all different, aren’t we?” I asked the Blue Suit. It was more of statement of fact than a question.
“Yeah. We are. Just look at you and me,” he said.
“You’re a full blown older man. I’m a cheap off the rack cloth suit. Even the material I’m made of is inferior to just about everything you had when you were growing up,” he added.
“I never thought about us that way,” I said to the Blue Suit. “I always figured we’re equals. It doesn’t matter to me the quality of the cloth you are made of, or the stitch that was used to put you together. What matters, mostly, importantly, is who you have come to be and what you are all about. That’s what matters,” I insisted to the Blue Suit.
“You’re a good, good guy, a smart guy, a decent guy,” I added.
“I guess you’re right, Josh, about this. I think I look as good and wear as well as just about any clothing you might buy,” the Blue Suit responded.
“Dude,” I said. “You’re missing the point. I don’t care that you’re not a fancy, stuck up, expensive, delicate hand made suit like something from Hong Kong. It doesn’t matter to me that the cloth you are made of is not the finest wool known to tailors. Again, that stuff just doesn’t matter. What matters is what’s in your heart. I know there’s no hate in your heart. I know you understand and feel what love is all about. That’s who you are. That’s what draws people to you. That’s why so many people appreciate your view of the world, of Everett, of politics, of justice, of injustice and on and on,” I said to him.
“People are drawn to you because you are real – a real time, major league, literary character with a great deal of depth and sincerity. In Everett, you are a celebrity, well known to thousands of our readers. That’s saying something for someone who came from such humble beginnings and who is cut from such inexpensive cloth,” I told the Blue Suit.
He nodded his head in agreement.
“Yeah, Josh, I learned a long time ago it isn’t how much money you have or how good looking you are, or how popular you are. Life is about going along and getting along. Coming up from the other side of the clothing racks has taught me a great deal. It is not the color of your suit, or the brilliance of the cloth, or the intricacies and perfection of the stitching. It is all about what I bring to the table, how I interact with people, how I help others and above all, it is about loyalty to doing the right thing.”