The SQUEAKY Wheel

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.  I have heard this expression all my life.  Of course it means that things and people get ignored if they are too steadfast and reliable.  It's the broken things that get attention.  We are taught, as the "Logical Song" lyrics say... to be reliable, clinical and to somehow fit in,  never needing to get any special attention, or be different.  Yet, as I look around the world with experienced eyes, it is almost always the outliers who rise to the TOP, while the reliable, predictable, dependable rise to the MIDDLE. Outliers go to jail sometimes but that is the risk, but even if that happens, there will always be some attractive woman who will be obsessed with marrying a man on death row so you will never be without someone who loves you, not counting Bubba, your cell mate.

Just think of the great  "Bad Boy" heroes of cinema, James Dean, Steve McQueen, or in music...Elton John, Madonna, any rapper who has to get arrested to have street cred.  For every Michael Buble' in a three piece suit, there are ten Axl Roses, and Steven Tylers who have risen to the top of their trade wearing feather boas and sequin gowns, knocking out the walls of hotel rooms.  Serial rehab attendees like Linsey Lohan, make the news. Angelina is weird in real life...have you heard? And she hates her father.

Even in families, it's the troubled kids that get the attention.  The A-students get a pat on the head and some attaboys, but the real time and attention goes to the truant, the one who has the weed in his pocket when mom does the laundry.  The same holds true for steadfast husbands and wives.  Family life goes along on an even keel and everything becomes more important than the spouse. He or she has always been there, so let's pay attention to stuff that could fall apart if not "greased."  I can always come back later to those constant and reliable things in my life, who like a cactus in a clay pot, never need any watering, or so it seems.  Getting a to-do list "done" and paying attention to the broken people and situations in life leaves little time to nurture the reliable, constant, dependable things.  That's probably fine if you are talking about your Toyota that needs nothing but an oil change every 15,000 miles, but even if people don't need fixing, they need some TLC, otherwise they may discover that they have to be broken and squeak in order to get the "grease."