Which Side?

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves too often that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.

Francois de La Rochfaucauld
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There was a broadcaster I knew years ago. One day he came into my studio and saw me reading a book on psychology. He wanted to know if I was interested in psychology. I told him I was trying to get in touch with my sinister side, to understand it and come to terms with it.

Here was a man who had no background or experience in broadcasting, who gave a lot of wrong information about himself to get his job, who stole other people's ideas and passed them off as his own, who aired a program in which he claimed to have gone out and interviewed a lot of people which he hadn't done, who made fun of the professionals around him, who easily took credit for things he didn't do, who made mistakes in his work but never admitted them or tried to correct them, who attempted to exert power over people he had no right to, who lied and gave false information about other people, who eavesdropped on private conversations and spread rumors and who assumed control and exercised it over the whole station.

In my studio that day he said to me with an absolutely straight face "I have no sinister side" and walked out. I didn't say anything to him but inside I laughed. It seemed to me that he was a walking poster boy for the sinister a card carrying member of the club of the underhanded, conniving and devious.

The real problem was that he really believed it. "Sinister" to him meant left handed and his understanding stopped at that point. I wonder how long it will take him to wake up to himself. He has walked around with a self designed disguise for so long any awakening is liable to be a terrible shock and he may go looking for a book on psychology to help him figure it out.

It's a great danger to sanity and well being to parade in a guise that we believe because we've held it for so long. It's a certain obstacle for understanding ourselves. I'ts something to be avoided, or to be faced and dealt with.

I haven't seen the fellow for years. All I know is that he eventually lost that job, finessed his way into another job and lost that one also. He never fooled anyone but himself.

DB - The Vagabond
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Weekend Puzzle

Here we go.

M APBH FHJ MX SFH YGJMDSMOH

TXL M APBH FHJ MX SFH ETAA

NIS ATYS XMDFS PX SFH NTKY GPJKF

M APBHL FHJ NHYS PE TAA.

(Sit down to do this one.)
DB

Ribald Reductions 2/25/09

Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.

Will Rogers
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Hi. Bring your smile and come along.
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If I sold my parrot to the town gossip he and the bird would probably just sit around in stitches over the last 7 decades of my foolishness. I have finally come to the point where I can either laugh at the silly things I did that I thought were so serious and important at the time or else I can forget about them. I have also realized that you can't really draw wisdom from your nonsense and put it in its proper perspective until you can laugh at it. I have another quote, this one from Rochfoucauld, which says "He who lives without folly isn't as wise as he thinks,"

One definition of a farce is "A passion carried to a ridiculous extreme." Think of that. When a passion bites the brain and twists the heart we stand a good chance of becoming a farce, something to laugh at and laugh about in later years.

The truth of the matter is that we can't help it. If you live a busy, vigorous, expanding life your are going to do something stupid every now and then. It's inevitable. So you stepped in the doggie poop on the sidewalk did you? Well, join the club. What do you mean you forgot to record that last check you wrote and now you can't remember how much it was far? Why did you do such a thing? One night I went out on to the stage to play a romantic scene after a change of costume and forgot to zip up my fly. It added a whole new dimension to the scene, one which was not appropriate. I couldn't understand why the audience was laughing at me. I know a writer who was covering the US Senate for a major newspaper. One day he incorrectly reported all the votes. You can imagine the phone calls he got. He managed to keep his job. But how do we live these things down?

You live a practical, sure and well organized life, you have the respect of your family, neighbors and coworkers, you are known far and wide as a reasonable, reliable and dependable person. But one day, for some reason you will never know, you decide to go out and do something extremely wild. Your reputation is temporarily shot to hell and your self respect has plummeted to the basement. You look at yourself in the mirror (or maybe you don't) and wonder how you could have been so stupid as to do such a thing. What happened is that you have been very careful and worked very hard not to permit yourself any hint of ridiculous behavior and it all backed up on you until one day it came out like a volcano erupting. Believe me I know what I'm talking about. If you don't make room for the harmless wild and crazy you can be sure you will cause yourself a lot of trouble.

Moral: Do something foolish every now and then, but don't sell your parrot.

DB - The Vagabond
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Are you still smiling? Good.


Comment from my friend Bob of the email lions

I hope I live my life in such a way that the parrot would have plenty to say, and I wouldn't mind the gossip knowing about it. In other words, that I had plenty to be embarrassed about, and I'm not the least bit embarrassed about it. Haven't gotten to that point, of course, but it's something to shoot for. Bob