Keep The Lights On

If you wish to shine like the daylight, burn up the night of self-importance.

Rumi
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I used to know a fellow in New York who was an actor and a friend. We did one show together and it went well. Then he would come to see my plays and I would see his plays and we would hang out and have fun. He was intelligent, friendly and had a sense of humor.

Then one day he asked me to be in a play he wanted to direct. It was a two character play. He cast the other part and scheduled a rehearsal. Immediately into the first day his personality changed. He became dark, a bully, an insulting martinet, criticizing every line reading and being generally obnoxious.

We were only doing it on speculation, there was no contract, so by the second rehearsal the other actor and I decided to drop out. The next time I saw my friend he was his usual jovial self.

I've seen that sort of Jekyll and Hyde behavior before and I don't understand it. What happens to people when they get a little bit of power or influence that they suddenly become a self-important antagonist instead of a friend. I've seen and had to work with that kind of oppressive behavior before but I never knew any of those people in any other context. This was different. This was a friend of mine who abruptly began treating us as if we didn't know what we were doing. Psychologists must have a word for that kind of temporary transformation. I don't know what it is. All I can say is that it was unexpected and unpleasant.

We eventually parted ways over a totally unrelated issue. But there was an element of the unexpected and unrealistic about that also. I finally concluded that there was a strain in his character I had missed for years. Under the right circumstances something made him change, take himself too seriously and to view himself as too important to bother with other people's rights or feelings. It's too bad because he was a nice guy and I liked him.

DB - The Vagabond
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WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?

dbdacoba@aol.com

Only 1 response so fa

I await your answer.
DB
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