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Publisher’s Note
Decr ease Y our P atients’ ’
2 September 2018
...Charles Felix
Publisher’s Note
Not Quite “Shouting Fire in a Crowded
Theater” … But Pretty Close
Our Saturday morning started relatively normally. Lox, eggs and onions (better known as LEO
to us regulars) for me at our weekend hangout – Palm Beach Bagel in Boca. When in doubt on
Saturday and Sunday at 8:30, we’ll be there. And that’s usually where Carol and I chart out our
day’s chores (in reality Carol does the charting while I think of ways to procrastinate.) Well this
particular Saturday, with September fast approaching and hurricane season well underway, Carol
decided it was high time we did something about fueling our mega-generator for whatever might
come our way over the next few months. After last year’s tangle with Irma with no a/c, etc. for
about a week, we’d learned our lesson.
Enlisting Andrew on our way, our first stop was our local Target to load up on new 5 gallon
gasoline containers … and I do mean load up! Our generator holds 16 gallons for a 10-hour run. And that’s a lot of fuel by any
standards. So when the Target manager and other shoppers spotted 3 shopping carts loaded with gas containers, batteries and water,
they did a real double take and panicked. The first question: “When is the storm coming?” Second question: “What category?” My
first response: “What storm?” only confused the poor listeners more until we explained we only were hurricane prepping and there
was absolutely nothing in the forecast unless you were somewhere in the Hawaiian Islands. I really think the manager was halfway
to the inventory computer to start ordering more hurricane supplies … and if we’d been in Kmart, we’d probably have heard,
“Attention, Kmart shoppers …”
And then there was the gas station. We had attached our extended luggage rig to the back of Carol’s SUV, so we could transport
all 14 containers each trip. As the station patrons watched us filling container after container, the panic grew. Amidst a lot of cell
phone googling and gaping, a half dozen people stopped to ask about the coming storm, etc. Even the Wawa employee came outside
to see if we knew something he didn’t. But the ultimate was when the Broward County patrol car pulled up
next to us also to inquire about the coming storm. Once again, I quickly pleaded innocent to causing a gaso-
line panic and let everyone know I’d be making two more gasoline fill-up trips, until we’d achieved our
goal of enough fuel to see us through 3 days of power, if and when we needed it.
People often argue that some speech is unprotected by making comparisons to shouting fire in a
crowded theater. And in fact according to Supreme Court Justice Holmes, “The most stringent protec-
tion of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.” So
even though it wasn’t my words that caused the panic that Saturday, my 14 innocent red gasoline contain-
ers certainly did.
You can reach Charles Felix at
Charles@southfloridahospitalnews.com
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