Wednesday, August 1. 2012
Nobel Truth Prize
Eons ago I saw a great cartoon, ever so prevailing. Unfortunately, I cannot remember where and by whom. But, nevertheless, the author deserves a prize comparable to Nobel's famous award, therefore I will at least tell his little story. Imagine it, for example, as a movie clip like a commercial.
[A Man walks along a dirty street. He is in hurry, since the surrounding does not look trustworthy. Suddenly another man, a young man in dirty and tattered clothes, steps up to the passerby.]
Young beggar:
Have you got a few coins for me, sir?
Passerby:
You should be ashamed of yourself, young man. What about working for your money?
Young beggar (very excited):
You got work for me?
[And then, all of a sudden and from every corner and niche, people are stepping up in droves, beggars and hoboes, male and female, young and old, hastily striding toward the passerby, waving and shouting and screaming in rapture.]
Beggars and Hoboes:
WORK! He's got WORK! WORK!! WORK!!!
[A Man walks along a dirty street. He is in hurry, since the surrounding does not look trustworthy. Suddenly another man, a young man in dirty and tattered clothes, steps up to the passerby.]
Young beggar:
Have you got a few coins for me, sir?
Passerby:
You should be ashamed of yourself, young man. What about working for your money?
Young beggar (very excited):
You got work for me?
[And then, all of a sudden and from every corner and niche, people are stepping up in droves, beggars and hoboes, male and female, young and old, hastily striding toward the passerby, waving and shouting and screaming in rapture.]
Beggars and Hoboes:
WORK! He's got WORK! WORK!! WORK!!!
Wednesday, January 11. 2012
Five Kinds of Knowledge
- Eve says the red jacket is ugly.
- Well, Eve's also wearing this canary bird jumper.
- Yes, I know. That is a bit off!
- Jeany is not coming to this junket.
- Yes, I know. It's gonna make her too sad, I guess.
- Well, that's the point of the junket, to ease the pain.
- Maybe she doesn't want to. Or maybe it won't.
- She never said it, in the end.
- She probably never wanted to.
- Yes, I know.
- I was going to tell you. I wanted to. I was just about to.
- Yes, I know. I could feel it in my bones.
- That sounds painful.
- He has already left the building.
- What a shame. I was going to talk to him.
- Yes, I know.
- Well, Eve's also wearing this canary bird jumper.
- Yes, I know. That is a bit off!
- Jeany is not coming to this junket.
- Yes, I know. It's gonna make her too sad, I guess.
- Well, that's the point of the junket, to ease the pain.
- Maybe she doesn't want to. Or maybe it won't.
- She never said it, in the end.
- She probably never wanted to.
- Yes, I know.
- I was going to tell you. I wanted to. I was just about to.
- Yes, I know. I could feel it in my bones.
- That sounds painful.
- He has already left the building.
- What a shame. I was going to talk to him.
- Yes, I know.
Monday, October 24. 2011
Something Else
The superintendent was aiming the beam of his torch at the ladder, and then slowly upwards. Its light was jumping from step to step flickering around whenever it reached a higher level. He was sweating and slightly out of breath, not because he did not know what to expect, yet, from the intruder he was about to confront, but because of the suffocating heat that still filled the air of this summer night at this late hour.
He had heard something, while getting out of bed for the toilet. But when he had opened the window towards the pools there was no sound anymore. So he had focussed on carefully emptying his bladder, when he had heard it again, this time definitely a movement. A shadow next to the dimly lit pools. Someone was out there trying to take advantage of the silent and still waters covered only by the night air. This had happened before, though not very often, since he was well known for catching them all.
There, above him, on the level of the diving platform, the light beam touched something. There was someone hunkering down, a person.
"Oy!" shouted the superintendent through the night. "Who is that? What are you doing up there?"
No answer, which was to expect.
"There is no way out!" he therefore added.
No answer.
“Come down at once!” he ordered.
“I can’t!” said a tiny voice. A female voice.
The superintendent was still aiming his torch light at the source of this voice. Now that his eyes slowly but surely adapted more and more to the lighting conditions, he started to realise what he saw. This person, this girl, feebly trying to cover up certain body parts with her hands, was completely naked.
The very moment this instant had fully sunken into his mind, he switched off the torch light.
“What the hell are you doing up there – like this?” he asked with a rough voice now.
“I was trying to jump”, said the tiny voice.
“Well, why didn’t you, when you realised that someone was coming?”
He waited for a moment, already thinking that, again, there would not be an answer. But then the tiny voice was speaking again, even tinier than before.
“I was too scared.”
“You will have to jump eventually” he said straight away, since this seemed the only logical solution to the girl’s situation right now. “You will hardly climb back down the ladder, will you?”
This time the answer came straight away, desperate, even agonised.
“I will have to!”
And there, to his utter astonishment, the shadow of that girl above moved towards the ladder. At first, he did not know what to do, and he started panning the pools and meadows in between.
“Are you alone?” he asked, and he did not even know why.
Her answer startled him even more.
“I am always alone”, she said.
While she talked, and even after that, he looked at her again stepping down the ladder, and with every step further down her long legs and her perfectly rounded back and shoulders came more and more into focus, even in the little light that the street lamps cast over the fences of the facility.
The lower part of his body now seemed to be prepared for an obvious reaction, and he sensed danger. How old was she? Sixteen? If?
She had reached ground level now, and he realised a little too late that he was blocking the way towards her clothes, a load he had spotted earlier when cornering the intruder had still been his first priority.
“Sorry”, she whispered, about to pass him.
“Wait”, he said. “How old are you?”
What as stupid thing to ask right now!
“Seventeen”, she said.
He felt his heart jumpstart, and again there was movement in his lower parts. He wanted to ask more questions, like why she had come here in the first place, and why she had tried to jump, but his voice failed.
He made a step forward towards her, not even having decided this fully conscious. She, on the other hand, did not move an inch, she just stood there. He lifted both his hands and touched the outlines of her breasts, carefully, gently. She still did not move, but he heard her breathing now, and his body instantly felt as if it was on fire. He made another step forward, closer towards her, caressing her skin and lowering his head as to touch her shoulders and her neck with his lips, and cover them with his kisses. Her scent made him dizzy, as if he also was naked and just about to intrude.
I have been dreaming a lot, he thought. But this is something else.
© 2011
He had heard something, while getting out of bed for the toilet. But when he had opened the window towards the pools there was no sound anymore. So he had focussed on carefully emptying his bladder, when he had heard it again, this time definitely a movement. A shadow next to the dimly lit pools. Someone was out there trying to take advantage of the silent and still waters covered only by the night air. This had happened before, though not very often, since he was well known for catching them all.
There, above him, on the level of the diving platform, the light beam touched something. There was someone hunkering down, a person.
"Oy!" shouted the superintendent through the night. "Who is that? What are you doing up there?"
No answer, which was to expect.
"There is no way out!" he therefore added.
No answer.
“Come down at once!” he ordered.
“I can’t!” said a tiny voice. A female voice.
The superintendent was still aiming his torch light at the source of this voice. Now that his eyes slowly but surely adapted more and more to the lighting conditions, he started to realise what he saw. This person, this girl, feebly trying to cover up certain body parts with her hands, was completely naked.
The very moment this instant had fully sunken into his mind, he switched off the torch light.
“What the hell are you doing up there – like this?” he asked with a rough voice now.
“I was trying to jump”, said the tiny voice.
“Well, why didn’t you, when you realised that someone was coming?”
He waited for a moment, already thinking that, again, there would not be an answer. But then the tiny voice was speaking again, even tinier than before.
“I was too scared.”
“You will have to jump eventually” he said straight away, since this seemed the only logical solution to the girl’s situation right now. “You will hardly climb back down the ladder, will you?”
This time the answer came straight away, desperate, even agonised.
“I will have to!”
And there, to his utter astonishment, the shadow of that girl above moved towards the ladder. At first, he did not know what to do, and he started panning the pools and meadows in between.
“Are you alone?” he asked, and he did not even know why.
Her answer startled him even more.
“I am always alone”, she said.
While she talked, and even after that, he looked at her again stepping down the ladder, and with every step further down her long legs and her perfectly rounded back and shoulders came more and more into focus, even in the little light that the street lamps cast over the fences of the facility.
The lower part of his body now seemed to be prepared for an obvious reaction, and he sensed danger. How old was she? Sixteen? If?
She had reached ground level now, and he realised a little too late that he was blocking the way towards her clothes, a load he had spotted earlier when cornering the intruder had still been his first priority.
“Sorry”, she whispered, about to pass him.
“Wait”, he said. “How old are you?”
What as stupid thing to ask right now!
“Seventeen”, she said.
He felt his heart jumpstart, and again there was movement in his lower parts. He wanted to ask more questions, like why she had come here in the first place, and why she had tried to jump, but his voice failed.
He made a step forward towards her, not even having decided this fully conscious. She, on the other hand, did not move an inch, she just stood there. He lifted both his hands and touched the outlines of her breasts, carefully, gently. She still did not move, but he heard her breathing now, and his body instantly felt as if it was on fire. He made another step forward, closer towards her, caressing her skin and lowering his head as to touch her shoulders and her neck with his lips, and cover them with his kisses. Her scent made him dizzy, as if he also was naked and just about to intrude.
I have been dreaming a lot, he thought. But this is something else.
© 2011
Tuesday, October 18. 2011
I Had a Friend
I had a friend, and he got power over me by not setting any boundaries. For example, I would ask something of him, nothing really huge or important, just something ordinary, and he would ignore it. That would make me ask again, after a while, and he would either ignore it again, or feel forced to act, which he would let me know straight away. In both cases, I would start to suffer.
Most of the time, with him having ignored me again, I would wait. And wait. And wait, or maybe ask a third time, but wait nevertheless. All the time.
Then, when ever we met, he would call me demanding, and I would step right into actually being demanding, while trying to defend myself that I wasn't, if I just did not want to be totally ignored. He, on the other hand, would only see that I was demanding, but never see that he was ignoring me, and what that did to me.
That vicious circle, of course, would torture me beyond measure, mostly because I would feel the injustice of his accusation.
If he had not ignored me, but said: No!, or even told me to leave him alone, even if he had said he would not want to be friends with me anymore, and to leave him alone altogether - of course, I would have been devastated for a while, but my pain would have been as limited as the boundaries he would have set.
Being rejected is not as bad as being ignored - or being called demanding. Being ignored may be seen as rejection unlimited, just as being called demanding can be an ultimate insult.
© 2011
Most of the time, with him having ignored me again, I would wait. And wait. And wait, or maybe ask a third time, but wait nevertheless. All the time.
Then, when ever we met, he would call me demanding, and I would step right into actually being demanding, while trying to defend myself that I wasn't, if I just did not want to be totally ignored. He, on the other hand, would only see that I was demanding, but never see that he was ignoring me, and what that did to me.
That vicious circle, of course, would torture me beyond measure, mostly because I would feel the injustice of his accusation.
If he had not ignored me, but said: No!, or even told me to leave him alone, even if he had said he would not want to be friends with me anymore, and to leave him alone altogether - of course, I would have been devastated for a while, but my pain would have been as limited as the boundaries he would have set.
Being rejected is not as bad as being ignored - or being called demanding. Being ignored may be seen as rejection unlimited, just as being called demanding can be an ultimate insult.
© 2011
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