reflections

Sunday, April 03, 2011
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GRAFFITI
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If anyone out there is planning to publish a volume of graffiti,
I submit the following candidates for his consideration.
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“Stay in school and learn to read and riot.”
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“Aunt Jemima is an Uncle Tom.”
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“No Easter this year – they found the body.”
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“Old soldiers never die -- just young ones.”
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“Hugh Hefner is a virgin.”
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“War is good business – invest your sons.”
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“Be realists, demand the impossible.”
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“Watch out, ears have walls.”
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“Chastity is its own punishment.”
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“Support free enterprise -- legalize prostitution.”
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“Wear contraceptives – the unborn will bless you.”
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“James Baldwin eats watermelon.”
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Monday, April 04, 2011
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HEROES
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Every nation has its heroes
who are invariably outnumbered by its cowards,
and we are no exception.
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Speaking for myself:
I have at no time identified myself as a hero.
On the contrary, on more than one occasion
I have declared myself to be an orthodox coward.
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To those who insult me anonymously
and from a safe distance, I say:
Why do you hide your identity?
Is it shame or cowardice?
Shame of who you are?
Fear of retaliation?
If fear, I assure you, you have nothing to fear.
I have no interest in harming anyone.
I am not your enemy.
Harming you would amount to killing someone
who is committing suicide.
I suggest you have more reasons to fear yourself
because by behaving as you do,
you expose yourself as a shameless coward.
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Zarian once said,
“An Armenian’s tongue can be sharper than a Turk’s yataghan.”
With one difference:
whereas Turks use the yataghan against their enemies,
we use it against ourselves.
As for those who expect me to believe
those who insult me are motivated by patriotism
and nothing else, I ask:
What could be more useless
than the patriotism of a shameless coward
who is afraid of his own shadow?
Why can’t we see this as clearly
as anyone with an average IQ?
The obvious answer is:
Because our average collective IQ
hovers somewhere between single-digit and negative.
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Finally, allow me to share a professional secret with you.
The most lethal wound a reader can inflict on a writer
is not reading him.
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Tuesday, April 05, 2011
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DIARY
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Saw a classic of French cinema,
Robert Bresson’s AU HASARD BALTHAZAR.
Most of the characters in it are nasty, even sadistic,
the acting is wooden,
the script clumsily put together,
the camera-work average.
What makes the film memorable are the central character
(a donkey, that after being repeatedly abused
is hit by a stray bullet and bleeds to death in the middle of nowhere)
and the music (Schubert).
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I see so many parallels between Balthazar’s life
and our history – with one significant difference:
Balthazar is an adorable, saintly creature…
Which may suggest that survival comes at a price,
and it is not always the best that survive.
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A system that develops a bureaucracy
is a system on its way to the devil.
That’s because in all bureaucracies
it is the ruthless and the cunning – that is to say,
the scum – that rises to the top.
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The aim of comedy is to make us forget that
life is a tragedy.
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“I love to read but I don’t have the time.”
The words of a self-satisfied imbecile
infatuated with his own ignorance.
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Old age replaces desire with guilt.
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Wednesday, April 06, 2011
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WRITERS AND EDITORS
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When asked why he no longer publishes me,
one of our partisan editors is quoted as having said:
“Because he writes garbage.”
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I write about life as I have experienced it.
I write about my fellow men as I have known them.
To do otherwise –
to speak of my feelings and thoughts
based on what others have seen, experienced, and understood,
would be derivative and, in my view,
inadmissible because based on hearsay.
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It is different with editors.
All editors have an editorial policy
set by the publisher or
whoever happens to be in authority.
If our bosses, bishops, and benefactors are unanimous
in thinking I write garbage,
an editor has no choice but to echo their views.
There are dissenting writers.
There are not and cannot be dissenting editors.
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Nations that have won or lost wars
think victory and defeat have taught them valuable lessons.
In reality all they have learned
is either arrogance or subservience:
arrogance towards the defenseless,
subservience towards authority figures.
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Am I saying anything you don’t already know?
I doubt it.
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