“The march is on, oblivion! The shapeless void has no boundaries, formless as it is, still marks its destination. The call it chides, the ranks they file below the pennant as they reply, too few object. In solitude, one voice can seem as silence, when none are left to listen.”
Curious and interesting bit of prose!
This past week I was at a small gathering, a nice group of folks and most came to join in the conversation, one individual had a copy of We Hold These Truths in her hand and ask me if I would sign it – I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, I find myself looking around thinking, “Maybe she means someone else!” And then she points to the name on the cover and say, “…isn’t that you?” Well,…ah, why yes, I guess it is!
I of course was honored that she’d want my “mark” and after placing it, she looked up at me and asked, “Do you think there will be enough people willing to read your work,… to care enough to make a difference? Look at Los Angeles, they’re forcing employees to accept a three-day work week but they’re leaving the police and fire departments untouched!”
I waited for a moment thinking she might have more to say yet she only stood there, looking off in to some unknown thought. It seemed several moments before she sort of shuddered and quickly turned her head, our eyes locked and then she said: “No one seems to care any more, I’m thinking of a few words from your first book and you’re right! Oh we play well at appearing concerned, but we’re not, we are far too detached from one another. Don’t you think?”
I thought for a moment and here is what I said:
“Yes, I do think there are enough people but I do not think that, as yet, they know who they are. However, rest assured it is they that are the ones who will count. When and only when the ranks of the newly unemployed are joined by those who realize that although they still have a job they are also acutely aware that they could be next. When they who consider themselves the entitled-employed find their future along side the displaced, then my friend, is when there will be enough. When people are willing to realize that government, as it is practiced, is completely detached from the intoxication it breads knowing nor caring not that it poisons the very air the People provide it to breath, then my friend, there will be enough who care to make a difference.”
I paused and noticed she seemed somehow invigorated. Interesting to me how several people, who had been engaged in conversation with others, had become interested in the exchange and were now tuned in for her response. I noticed the return of a subtle shaking, from side to side, of her head as if expressing a reconsideration, she said, “You may be right but I think you’re too much of an optimist, I still think people are too detached to know the difference.”
“Oh, they know the difference, it’s the detachment you mention that is evidence that they do. It is detachment that allows one, for a time, to isolate oneself from the inevitable. You might even call it denial, but inevitably denial ultimately gives way to the reality of consequence. It occurs, for each, at different times and each of us address it in different ways. And so, as it is a uniquely individual event, the when and the what become of “it” is distinctly up to you; it is the product of your next thought and the actions that follow!”
By the way, specifically to the last two lines of the previous paragraph, that’s all “it” ever is.
Curtis C. Greco, Founder
