The most famous people I’ve met are famed for their scholarly or political contributions to society, which is to say 98% of the population have never heard of them.
What I am really sad to say is that I’ve never met anyone truly infamous. I keep hoping one of those scientists will turn evil, but they just stay nerdy.
Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.
Only when I’m among people.
Trudging into lapping waves
On a dim and dusky eve.
Chest deep
One pops up, pressing one's chest
Onto the water,
And swims toward a distant
Silhouetted rock outcrop.
But it doesn't stay silhouetted.
Soon, one is heading into
A grand, black abyss,
There is no shape in this world,
Only the feel of limbs -- pulling & kicking.
Sounds grow ever more feeble --
And ever more rare --
Until the smell of seawater becomes
A bright and vivid sensory experience --
Layered & textured.
Rolling onto one's back, one can see
Patches of sparkling stars
In the cloud gaps.
One lays upon the waves --
Feeling as though one conforms to them
As one floats like a piece of driftwood --
And sees the twinkle of distant stars,
In a world too vast to understand.
People who take nothing seriously. A distant second goes to those who take everything seriously. And dead last, being people I avoid at all costs, are those who have a sizable set of ideas that they believe should be treated deadly seriously by everyone, while finding others’ serious stuff to be mockable.
Einstein said there are two ways of viewing the world, as if everything is a miracle or nothing is. I’m sure Einstein recognized that there were many people who, in fact, believed their own sect to have “legitimate miracles,” while believing the miracles of other sects were mere superstition. And what he was really getting at was that the latter stance is presumptuous, indefensible, and – quite frankly – ridiculous. Anyhow, my own spin is that there are two legitimate ways to view the world: to take nothing serious and to take everything seriously. All others are shades of petty narcissism.
[As I think of it, I guess I could have answered more simply with the single word: “Travelers.”]
People. They’re the worst. Or, possibly, technology. It’s a close runner up, at least. Of course, on some level, it’s all one shitstorm. Humans are the technological animal, and technology facilitates the making of comfort junkies who avoid deep thought at all costs. (Which is at the core of my beef.)
The efflux of the soul is happiness, here is
happiness,
I think it pervades the open air, waiting at
all times,
Now it flows unto us, we are rightly
charged.
Here rises the fluid and attaching character,
The fluid and attaching character is the
freshness and sweetness of man and
woman,
(The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher
and sweeter every day out of the roots of
themselves, than it sprouts fresh and
sweet continually out of itself.)
Toward the fluid and attaching character
exudes the sweat of the love of young and
old,
From it falls distill'd the charm that mocks
beauty and attainments,
Toward it heaves the shuddering longing
ache of contact.
It’s between a US Senator who served many terms and was involved in some major legislation (that bears his name) or a Nobel-winning Economist. So, no one that 99% of the planet has ever heard of. I will not comment on whether these individuals fell in the “famous” or “infamous” category.
the cormorant,
glistening & dripping,
must air dry
before it’s a bird again;
humans cramp in the pool.
cymbals crash &
horns blow, a dragon weaves up-street:
winter festivities!
No. I try to see wherever I’m at as being as good as any other place I’ve been. And, of course, it is — only my perceptions change and can drive value judgements. The places and the peoples are just different. If one starts ranking and rating places, one can kill the ability to see what is beautiful and spectacular about a particular place. If a place didn’t have redeeming features, people wouldn’t live there. And, by the way, if people don’t live there, that’s probably my favorite place on earth.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 