Bravos And Bozos

Every calling is great when greatly pursued.

Oliver Wendell Holmes
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"Oh, no. Not another actor story." Cool it! Don't rush for the exit.

I was riding on a bus in New York. There were two girls sitting behind me and as they were talking I overheard one of them say "Why should I go on a date with an actor no one has ever heard of?" I wanted to turn around and say "I'm an actor no one has ever heard of and there are thousands of us all over the world. If he's a good actor, conscientious and dedicated to his craft he's probably a fine man and you should give him a chance." Of course, I didn't. It was none of my business.

I took a flight from Boston to Portland, Maine one winter day. It was a tiny 6 seater commercial plane from a small New England airline. When we took off the sky was very gray and threatening. Soon after it began to snow heavily. In the winter New England weather can be fierce. I was next to a window, of course, but I couldn't see anything out of it except gray, I was in the front and there was only an open curtain between me and the cockpit. I could see the pilot and the front window which was iced up. The trip took about 30 minutes. We started to descend. I still could see nothing out the window until suddenly I saw the runway no more than 50 feet below us and probably less. The pilot set the plane down as gently as if he was putting a baby to sleep in its bed.

One day I watched a man single handedly pitch a tent that covered about a 25 foot square area. If you think there is nothing to pitching a tent, think again. It took him about an hour. It was up for a long Autumn weekend and the wind never blew it over.

I have had the benefit of watching masters at work, master artists, master engineers, master technicians. I learned that whatever it was my duty to do, mopping floors, proofreading documents or performing on the stage, it deserved my complete attention and best efforts.

It's easy to tell the difference. If you take your car in it's not hard to know if you are talking to a real mechanic who knows his business or a bozo. It's the same if you call your computer company or your ISP. There are a few who understand how things work and can solve your problem. A few. But there are a lot of bozos. No doubt there are a lot of bozos working for BP. but there are also intelligent, knowledgeable, dedicated engineers who will get the problem solved eventually.

"What does he do for a living?" "He lives." I could have said that proofreading was not really my calling, I'm really an actor. But as long as the legal document was in front of me and a play script wasn't, to get that document right was my calling. Or to quote that eminent philosopher and wise old sage, me, "What's the next step in life? It's the one right in front of you."

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

In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.

15 responses so far.

Answers will be published the first day of Summer.

Thank you.

dbdacoba@aol.com

DB - The Vagabond
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