I Didn't See That Coming

My favorite commercial right now is the one with the very serious group of young people eating wings or something from KFC or somewhere and a thoughtful young woman says, “I didn’t see that coming.” I understand. I mean, how could she? In the dangerous world of Fast Food, anything can happen. What I like is that, despite the intensity with which she is eating, it seems that she is on the lookout for something.

Her words of surprise are a kind of informed surprise that we can all admire. And, emulate. The economy falls. I didn’t see that coming. The war goes on. I didn’t see that coming. The President loses credibility. I didn’t see that coming.

This could be the phrase that defines a moment. The phrase that will stand for a specific time in history, like, This Bud’s for you, Where’s the Beef, and I am not a crook.

She is minding her own business, eating with her friends, and then, the unexpected, the uninvited, the unlooked for. I didn’t see that coming. It conveys the unlikelihood of whatever happened, but implies that she would have been more circumspect or cautious or decisive or prudent or something, if only she had seen it coming.

I kind of feel like that, too. And this could be a defense, or an excuse, or I could have adopted it as a philosophy. I just didn’t see it coming.