In lieu of a story, I'll tell you a non-story.
He was a Canadian commissioner for wildlife protection. One night he found himself stranded on a remote road in Vancouver. Headlights on engine
kaput. After a while, a faintly lit large creature approached his car, growled and roared, and began shaking the car. He just sat there calmly drinking his coffee out of a thermos.
There are 31 ways to make coffee. One of them is great. The others, well, the others are what they are. Every morning, T.E. Allison made enough of his great coffee to last the
entire day. He carried his thermos wherever he went. On the night of this day, Mr. Allison, drinking his coffee, faced a problem. What was he doing late at night on a mountain road
in British Columbia? The answer to that question presented these problems: it could ruin his marriage; it could slander his reputation, slur his career; it could reveal his
addictions to certain pills. More than scary, he was never able to identify the creature. That from the ranking Canadian commissioner for wildlife protection. How hip is that!
There is no moral, point or purpose to this non-story. It's an impression, a representation of human life on this tiny rock. It's a
work of art. Everything is a work of art, isn't it? And all art is impressionistic. Slap down all the labels of academic bravado and bravada about cultural periods. Slap down
all merchandising comeons. See, listen, feel a work of art and you are seeing, listening, feeling through the eyes, ears and sensibility of the artist. You are experiencing the
impression of the artist. No one ever knows what an artist's impression is… of their impression of their own work.
As for the remorseful Tom Allison... he became an MP from Montreal.
As Sir Lenny Bruce sayeth: "And that's that!"
He also stateth: "When you face a New Year, don't blink!"
|