words from other minds

it took so long to find out

2011-12-30T04:52:00.000-05:00

So once upon a time came a skipping girl child dressed not in the red riding hood but in a dark cloaked riding hood (black or grey maybe … but why split hairs … the colour is not integral to this fairy tale) … having run far and long from the snatches of the evil witch of Hansel and Gretel’s cottage having discovered that her mother did indeed want to eat her young … out of breath she’d wandered through the Land of Oz and Alice’s Wonderland … and once again found herself in another godforsaken fairy tale favorite … a forest. At a quick glance, the wolves and whirling dervishes that inhabited these woods with the bluebirds, doves, owls and hares … did not notice the slight hesitation between skips, the flushed cheeks that spoke not of exhaustion but of growing panic. Panic born of fear that she did not have the strength, physical and of will to fend off another wolf another grizzly another Ogre disguised as a sheep …
And so she skipped to the hums and notes of Bon Jovi … comfort music if nothing else … anthems of the young and torn and brave and new …
Night fell and she could feel their breath on her cheeks, her skin crawled at the visceral knowledge of how close they lay in wait … bated bad breaths waiting for her pace to slow or better yet for her to trip … she could hear their muscles clenching and unclenching as they sat there poised to pounce …
She searched high and low for a safe place a soft place where she could lay her weary head and rest her tired limbs … a place to sit and wait for the sun to rise … a place to wait for the warmth of its rays to chase away the chill from this desperate dark and dangerous place.
She skipped and hummed and skipped and hummed into the wee hours of the morning before she came upon a clearing … bathed in silver … protected by the silver shimmer of the moon … within that circle of silver shimmer lay a fawn with eyes as big as saucers …
When the girl child saw the fawn seemingly protected within the clearing she assumed presumed that here she could rest … protected as the fawn was … surely.
The fawn spoke and welcomed the girl child, nuzzled her hand and tickled as he licked salt from her skin … oh you’re adorable the girl child thought … and look at you dance and prance … and oh my … you sing and can stand on your head! You’re so snuggly and warm and loving and … oh so gentle. And the girl child fell asleep curled up in the warmth of that fawn with eyes so wide so open so clear …
A cold soft nuzzle against her skin awakened the girl child and there he was … nose pressed up against her nose … head tilted slightly, ears a flutter, eyes pleading twinkling …
So they pranced and danced and twirled and looked at daisies and ate mulberries and drank the dew … rolled and somersaulted and cuddled within the clearing …
This is how life should be thought the girl child … full of endless wonder and love comfort and warmth … and the minutes became days, become weeks …
She could guess what the Fawn wanted by the twitch of his tale, the curve of his spine the glint of an eye … and her heart was filled with the love she felt for this friend … but …
(there’s always a but … isn’t there?) … something echoed within her … a call beyond the wild of this clearing, this forest, these woods … a knowledge that this was simply a respite an illusion within the chaos beyond the clearing … and no matter how real this was … the real world lay beyond the circle of this clearing beyond the realm of the Fawn …
She awoke that morning and approached her friend and beckoned that he follow her beyond the circle of the clearing … he backed away, shook his head, stamped his feet and if fawns can pout, pout he did …
She whined, she prodded, she pushed … she coaxed, she cajoled … but the Fawn remained impassive and grew even more stubborn … spending more time than before alone … sniffing berries and rooting through leaves … leaving the girl child alone to contemplate the fringes of the clearing where her heart longed to return …
The day soon came when the girl child knew that she must leave this sacred glade that her path lay beyond … as one among many in the chaos of life … and not in this world of dreams spun within a crack in the darkness … and anyways fawns and little girls couldn’t do much else together beyond play … I mean really …
So when the Fawn pretended to sleep … the girl child donned the cloak she had long since abandoned in the corner of the clearing and without a sound stepped beyond that thin line and made her way through the wolves, grizzlies and Ogres to her destination … unknown.
… and the Fawn ? why he’s still cavorting in his clearing … somersaulting and dancing to keep the loneliness at bay … waiting, waiting for the next visitor … maybe this one will stay for longer than a day …

… both prisoners in their own way …

brilliance

2010-05-31T05:39:00.001-04:00

remembering

"Please don’t ask me to keep in step – It’s hard enough just to stay in line." ~ Ashleigh Brilliant

and just a few more of many thousands:

0062...... We ought to be more careful – our love could drag on for years and years.
0079...... It’s really quite a simple choice: Life, death or Los Angeles.
0118...... I’m just moving clouds today – tomorrow I’ll try mountains.
0135...... Please don’t ask me what the score is – I’m not even sure what game we’re playing.
0142...... When all else fails, eat!
0144...... My life has a superb cast, but I can’t figure out the plot.
0147...... Slowly but surely, I’m getting nowhere.
0171...... Force yourself to relax.
0179...... I don’t need a great deal of love but I do need a steady supply.
0184...... Appreciate me now and avoid the rush.
0205...... Anything is good if it’s made of chocolate.
0212...... All I want is a little more than I’ll ever get.
0247...... Please don’t ask me to keep in step – It’s hard enough just to stay in line.
0431...... If only I could get that wonderful feeling of accomplishment without having to
.............. accomplish anything.
0433...... I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
0676...... Help improve my appearance – I’m much better - looking when I’ve been hugged.
0702...... If you can’t learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.
0729...... There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about.
0759...... I don’t have any solution, but I certainly admire the problem.
0800...... Incredible as it seems, my life is based on a true story.
0826...... I have abandoned my search for truth, and am now looking for a good fantasy.
0830...... Living on earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the
.............. sun.
0843...... It’s possible that my whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
0892...... Don’t be afraid to give some of yourself away…it will all grow back.
0904...... Today I hate you but try me again tomorrow
0927...... I recently had my problems on the run, but now they’ve re-grouped, and are making
.............. another attack.
0951...... It’s good to know that, if I behave strangely enough, society will take responsibility
.............. for me.
0980...... You smile is one of the great sights of the world.
0988...... Be kind to teachers -- those who don’t deserve your respect may at least deserve
.............. your pity.
0994...... NOT NOW -- and maybe not later either.
0999...... The effort of getting up in the morning usually exhausts me for the rest of the day.

0433 I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
1678 If you can’t say how much you love me, try to give a rough
estimate.
0729 There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know
nothing about.
1722 I want you, happiness, and chocolate -- but not necessarily in that
order.
1520 I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me
at once.

0850 Hold on to me: Someday I may be quite valuable.
0295 Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today.
0398 All I ask is a chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.
0395 Cheer Up! Things may be getting worse at a slower rate.
0546 I work very hard—please don’t expect me to think as well.
0142 When all else fails, eat!

033 I'm not getting paid much for staying alive but it's good experience.
0056 I think I’ll just sit here and wait till life gets easier.
0064 I'm writing to tell you I have nothing to say.
0068 I happened to see you passing through my life, so I thought I’d love you.
0100 Are we still friends? Or don't you know either?
0101 Consider yourself thanked.
0102 If you can't keep in sight, at least keep in touch.
0104 Regardless of the date, I’m glad you were born.
0118 I'm just moving clouds today - tomorrow I’ll try mountains.
0131 If you're looking for a friend, I’d like to apply.
0135 Please don't ask me what the score is - I’m not even sure what game we're playing.
0142 When all else fails, eat!
0144 My life has a superb cast, but I can't figure out the plot.
0146 I may not be easy to reach, but I may be worth it.
0156 Your illness license has expired: report back to health immediately.
0157 A large percentage of me likes a large percentage of you.
0179 I don't need a great deal of love, but I do need a steady supply.
0184 Appreciate me now and avoid the rush.
0196 Reports of my being alive and well have been grossly exaggerated.
0197 It would be nice to see you again - and again.
0205 Anything is good if it's made of chocolate.
0211 Isn't it a nice coincidence that you and I are both alive at the same time!
0212 All I want is a little more than I’ll ever get.
0223 There's a hungry mailbox down the street - please feed it something for me.
0240 Why don't you write, and give me a chance not to reply?
0254 Thanks for being.
0309 Single-handedly, I have fought my way into this hopeless mess.
0317 To whom it may concern: you are a very special person.
0328 I don't wish to appear overly inquisitive, but are you still alive?
0347 I'm looking for the perfect pillow - I think it's somewhere near yours.
0377 I'm sorry for not communicating, but sometimes it's very hard to write on a moving planet.
0433 I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
0445 "Please reconsider - it's so hard to take ""go to hell"" for an answer."
0455 Any day is a good day to have a mother.
0500 I waited and waited, and when no message came, I knew it must be from you.
0519 I feel much better, now that I’ve given up hope.
0563 I, for one, am longing to feel your hot breath on my neck.
0572 To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and, whatever you hit, call it the target.
0595 Please don't tell me to relax - it's only my tension that's holding me together.
0609 I always know the right thing to say, after the right time to say it has passed.
0673 Somehow, in my busy life, I am finding time to miss you.
0676 Help improve my appearance - I’m much better-looking when I’ve been hugged.
0759 I don't have any solution, but I certainly admire the problem.
0787 If God had approved of the metric system, he'd have given us ten fingers.
0792 We must have courage, faith, and lunch together sometime soon.
0826 I have abandoned my search for truth, and am now looking for a good fantasy.
0830 Living on earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the sun.
0980 Your smile is one of the great sights of the world.
1010 Life is an intolerable burden, which every living thing somehow manages to tolerate.
1015 Words ought not to be trusted - you can never be sure if they mean what they say.
1032 Please remain calm - it's no use both of us being hysterical at the same time.
1062 I want it clearly understood that I’m totally confused.
1085 My sources are unreliable, but their information is fascinating.
1120 No man is an island, but some of us are long peninsulas.
1150 In order to discover who you are, first learn who everybody else is - and you're what's left.
1160 You are there, and I am here, so one of us is obviously in the wrong place.
1189 What I like most about myself is that I’m so understanding when I do something wrong.
1194 By doing just a little every day, I can gradually let the task completely overwhelm me.
1213 Communication with the dead is only a little more difficult than communication with some of the living.
1248 Our meetings are held to discuss many problems which would never arise if we held fewer meetings.
1287 Things are gradually falling into place - on top of me.
1318 My life is a performance for which I was never given any chance to rehearse.
1336 We've been through so much together, and most of it was your fault.
1390 Inside every older person there's a younger person wondering what happened.
1394 Anybody who thinks I am strange ought to meet you.
1401 Sometimes the best way to be useful is to get out of somebody's way.
1409 Life is the only game in which the object of the game is to learn the rules.
1460 Look what I’ve found! ... A moment to write to you.
1520 I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
1529 Words are a wonderful form of communication, but they will never replace kisses and punches.
1615 There's only one thing more beautiful than a beautiful dream, and that's a beautiful reality.
1678 If you can't say exactly how much you love me, try to make a rough estimate.
1861 Please ask your machine to get in touch with my machine.
1960 My life is already complicated enough, without trying to introduce organization into it.
2032 To be sure of winning, invent your own game, and never tell any other player the rules.
2053 I too have known joy and sadness, and, on the whole, I prefer joy.
2101 Most of my problems either have no answer, or else the answer is worse than the problem.
2120 Slavery and torture were outlawed long ago, but, for some reason, marriage is still legal.
2373 We couldn't have met in any previous life, because you are one experience I’d surely never forget.
2409 If you postpone a pleasure long enough, it may melt, spoil, die, evaporate, or move away.
2475 Let's make it definite: I’ll see you when I see you.
2503 All I want is a warm bed and a kind word, and unlimited power.
2581 Watch out! It's quite possible that some of my best mistakes haven't yet been made.
2606 My thoughts are free to go anywhere, but it's surprising how often they head in your direction.
2651 My struggle to remain healthy is gradually killing me.
2701 One thing travel teaches is why living at home is so popular.
2702 Keep smiling! (but not so much that people begin to wonder if you are mentally unbalanced).
2747 Children who are born into happy families grow up speaking love as their native language.
2797 It's true I’m getting older, but there are still many good hugs left in me.
2829 A good friend is worth pursuing - but why would a good friend be running away?
2833 Ready - aim - spend!
2835 Never fall in love with anybody you can't afford to lose.
2836 Sometimes I make a mental note, but then forget where I put it.
2847 No matter how many times I do my work, it never stays done for long.
2849 Never resist a mad impulse to do something nice for me.
2851 Think of me as someone who is very often thinking of you.
2918 It's hopeless! Tomorrow there'll be even more books I should have read than there are today.
2999 The longest distance in the world is always the one between you and me.
3017 Just because I’m happy doesn't mean you couldn't make me happier.
3037 Correct me if I’m wrong, at your own risk.
3053 Doing it wrong fast is at least better than doing it wrong slowly.
3093 I have you, you have me: at least one of us is lucky.

0088 Would you care to drift aimlessly in my direction?
0102 If you can’t keep in sight, at least keep in touch.
0104 Regardless of the date, I’m glad you were born.
0131 If you’re looking for a friend, I’d like to apply.
0142 When all else fails, eat!
0146 I may not be easy to reach, but I may be worth it.
0223 There’s a hungry mailbox down the street – please feed it something for me.
0312 If you don’t do it, you’ll never know what would have happened if you had done it.
0341 You thought I’d never write, but the joke is on you – this isn’t really me writing!
0377 I’m sorry for not communicating but sometimes it’s very hard to write on a moving
planet.
0379 Is it I who am far away, or is it you?
0500 I waited and waited, and when no message came, I knew it must be from you.
0544 Be what you are.
0644 Thank you for giving me the pleasure of giving pleasure to you!
0892 Don’t be afraid to give some of yourself away…It will all grow back.
0948 Your gift is much appreciated -- and so are you.

as small sampling of the ten thousand wonderful witticisms and profound thoughts ut into words by Ashleigh Brilliant, a mentor of sorts... he taught me the power of words is enhanced by the power of medium and you can share the power of words in many ways... buy these buy the number on postcards, on mugs, on shirts, on plaques, on posters, and more... and thank you Ashleigh, for being, for sharing, for brilliance :)

equality

2009-06-14T20:26:00.006-04:00

Do you really believe in equality?
How much?

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

Some things about living still weren’t quite right, though. April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron’s fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.

It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn’t think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.

George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel’s cheeks, but she’d forgotten for the moment what they were about.

On the television screen were ballerinas.

A buzzer sounded in George’s head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.

“That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did,” said Hazel.

“Huh?” said George.

“That dance – it was nice,” said Hazel.

“Yup,” said George. He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren’t really very good – no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.

George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas.

Hazel saw him wince. Having no mental handicap herself she had to ask George what the latest sound had been.

“Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer,” said George.

“I’d think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds,” said Hazel, a little envious. “All the things they think up.”

“Um,” said George.

“Only, if I was Handicapper General, you know what I would do?” said Hazel. Hazel, as a matter of fact, bore a strong resemblance to the Handicapper General, a woman named Diana Moon Glampers. “If I was Diana Moon Glampers,” said Hazel, “I’d have chimes on Sunday – just chimes. Kind of in honor of religion.”

“I could think, if it was just chimes,” said George.

“Well – maybe make ‘em real loud,” said Hazel. “I think I’d make a good Handicapper General.”

“Good as anybody else,” said George.

“Who knows better’n I do what normal is?” said Hazel.

“Right,” said George. He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that.

“Boy!” said Hazel, “that was a doozy, wasn’t it?”

It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. Two of the eight ballerinas had collapsed to the studio floor, were holding their temples.

“All of a sudden you look so tired,” said Hazel. “Why don’t you stretch out on the sofa, so’s you can rest your handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch.” She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in canvas bag, which was padlocked around George’s neck. “Go on and rest the bag for a little while,” she said. “I don’t care if you’re not equal to me for a while.”

George weighed the bag with his hands. “I don’t mind it,” he said. “I don’t notice it any more. It’s just a part of me.

“You been so tired lately – kind of wore out,” said Hazel. “If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. Just a few.”

“Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out,” said George. “I don’t call that a bargain.”

“If you could just take a few out when you came home from work,” said Hazel. “I mean – you don’t compete with anybody around here. You just set around.”

“If I tried to get away with it,” said George, “then other people’d get away with it and pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn’t like that, would you?”

“I’d hate it,” said Hazel.

“There you are,” said George. “The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?”

If Hazel hadn’t been able to come up with an answer to this question, George couldn’t have supplied one. A siren was going off in his head.

“Reckon it’d fall all apart,” said Hazel.

“What would?” said George blankly.

“Society,” said Hazel uncertainly. “Wasn’t that what you just said?”

“Who knows?” said George.

The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn’t clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, “Ladies and gentlemen – ”

He finally gave up, handed the bulletin to a ballerina to read.

“That’s all right –” Hazel said of the announcer, “he tried. That’s the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard.”

“Ladies and gentlemen” said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred-pound men.

And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody. “Excuse me – ” she said, and she began again, making her voice absolutely uncompetitive.

“Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen,” she said in a grackle squawk, “has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under–handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous.”

A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen – upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall.

The rest of Harrison’s appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever worn heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H–G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.

Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds.

And to offset his good looks, the H–G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle–tooth random.

“If you see this boy,” said the ballerina, “do not – I repeat, do not – try to reason with him.”

There was the shriek of a door being torn from its hinges.

Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake.

George Bergeron correctly identified the earthquake, and well he might have – for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune. “My God –” said George, “that must be Harrison!”

The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head.

When George could open his eyes again, the photograph of Harrison was gone. A living, breathing Harrison filled the screen.

Clanking, clownish, and huge, Harrison stood in the center of the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand. Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die.

“I am the Emperor!” cried Harrison. “Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!” He stamped his foot and the studio shook.

“Even as I stand here –” he bellowed, “crippled, hobbled, sickened – I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!”

Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds.

Harrison’s scrap–iron handicaps crashed to the floor.

Harrison thrust his thumbs under the bar of the padlock that secured his head harness. The bar snapped like celery. Harrison smashed his headphones and spectacles against the wall.

He flung away his rubber–ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder.

“I shall now select my Empress!” he said, looking down on the cowering people. “Let the first woman who dares rise to her feet claim her mate and her throne!”

A moment passed, and then a ballerina arose, swaying like a willow.

Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all, he removed her mask.

She was blindingly beautiful.

“Now” said Harrison, taking her hand, “shall we show the people the meaning of the word dance? Music!” he commanded.

The musicians scrambled back into their chairs, and Harrison stripped them of their handicaps, too. “Play your best,” he told them, “and I’ll make you barons and dukes and earls.”

The music began. It was normal at first – cheap, silly, false. But Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it played. He slammed them back into their chairs.

The music began again and was much improved.

Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while – listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it.

They shifted their weights to their toes.

Harrison placed his big hands on the girl’s tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers.

And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang!

Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well.

They reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun.

They leaped like deer on the moon.

The studio ceiling was thirty feet high, but each leap brought the dancers nearer to it. It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling.

They kissed it.

And then, neutralizing gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time.

It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.

Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on.

It was then that the Bergerons’ television tube burned out.

Hazel turned to comment about the blackout to George.

But George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer.

George came back in with the beer, paused while a handicap signal shook him up. And then he sat down again. “You been crying?” he said to Hazel.

“Yup,” she said,

“What about?” he said.

“I forget,” she said. “Something real sad on television.”

“What was it?” he said.

“It’s all kind of mixed up in my mind,” said Hazel.

“Forget sad things,” said George.

“I always do,” said Hazel.

“That’s my girl,” said George. He winced. There was the sound of a riveting gun in his head.

“Gee – I could tell that one was a doozy,” said Hazel.

“You can say that again,” said George.

“Gee –” said Hazel, “I could tell that one was a doozy.”

Harrison Bergeron

by Kurt Vonnegut (1961)

freaky, no doubt

2009-05-11T23:24:00.013-04:00

"Be still and know I am"
Jesus ChristSuperstar?

are you?

uncle albert (mostly)

2009-04-30T00:47:00.000-04:00

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?

Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment.

Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.

Force always attracts men of low morality. Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love .

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt.

He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.

Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!

I am a deeply religious nonbeliever - this is a somewhat new kind of religion.

Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

Information is not knowledge.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.

It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

Love is a better teacher than duty.

Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events.

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.

Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God

The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while.

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

The faster you go, the shorter you are.

The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.

The road to perdition has ever been accompanied by lip service to an ideal.

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there. (and no proof is needed)

True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness.

We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

"No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."

‘The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

"The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."

"He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

nyuk,

nyuk,

narf.

The Madhouse - K. Gibran

2008-10-06T17:43:00.012-04:00

It was in the garden of a madhouse that I met a youth with a face pale and lovely and full of wonder.

And I sat beside him upon the bench, and I said,

"Why are you here?"

And he looked at me in astonishment, and he said,

"It is an unseemly question, yet I will answer you.

My father would make of me a reproduction of himself; so also would my uncle.

My mother would have me the image of her illustrious father.

My sister would hold up her seafaring husband as the perfect example for me to follow.

My brother thinks I should be like him, a fine athlete...

and my teachers also, the doctor of philosophy, and the music-master, and the logician, they too were determined, and each would have me but a reflection of his own face in a mirror.

Therefore I came to this place. I find it more sane here. At least, I can be myself."

The of a sudden he turned to me and he said,

"But tell me, were you also driven to this place by education and good counsel?"

And I answered,

"No, I am a visitor."

And he said,

"Oh, you are one of those who live in the madhouse on the other side of the wall."

Kahlil Gibran

The Wanderer - F. Nietzsche

2008-10-06T17:38:00.006-04:00

He who has come only in part to a freedom of reason cannot feel on earth otherwise than as a wanderer-though not as a traveler towards a final goal, for this does not exist. But he does want to observe, and keep his eyes open for everything that actually occurs in the world; therefore he must not attach his heart too firmly to any individual thing; there must be something wandering within him, which takes its joy in change and transitoriness. To be sure, such a man will have bad nights, when he is tired and finds closed the gates to the city that should offer him rest; perhaps in addition, as in the Orient, the desert reaches up to the gate; predatory animals howl now near, now far; a strong wind stirs; robbers lead off his pack-animals. Then for him the frightful night sinks over the desert like a second desert, and his heart becomes tired of wandering. If the morning sun then rises, glowing like a divinity of wrath, and the city opens up, he sees in the faces of its inhabitants perhaps more of desert, dirt, deception, uncertainty, than outside the gates-and the day is almost worse than the night. So it may happen sometimes to the wanderer; but then, as recompense, come the ecstatic mornings of other regions and days. Then nearby in the dawning light he already sees the bands of muses dancing past him in the mist of the mountains. Afterwards, he strolls quietly in the equilibrium of his forenoon soul, under trees from whose tops and leafy corners only good and bright things are thrown down to him, the gifts of all those free spirits who are at home in mountain, wood, and solitude, and who are, like him, in their sometimes merry, sometimes contemplative way, wanderers and philosophers. Born out of the mysteries of the dawn, they ponder how the day can have such a pure, transparent, transfigured and cheerful face between the hours of ten and twelve-they seek the philosophy of the forenoon.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Alone - E.A. Poe

2008-09-27T03:20:00.003-04:00

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

Edgar Allan Poe