Slip slidin’ away…
December 2, 2009
Europeans like to visit Switzerland when they feel like dying. Oh; and Phil Collins lives there too. I sincerely hope the baldy drummer hasn’t signed a record deal with Dignitas. Imagine your last moments on Earth were spent listening to the soundtrack for Buster. Thinking about that inspires me to stick my head in an oven.
In Australia, people don’t give much thought to Europe – never mind Switzerland. So as the Swiss discuss the impact of Islamic minarets on their society, Ozzys are enjoying a sausage sizzle and nurturing melanomas. They don’t really care about foreign affairs, especially in Western Australia (a.k.a. Wait Awhile). As long as the sun comes up, then everything’s fine. That mammoth apricot star, high in the powder blue sky, is their panacea – the rest of the world a distant mirage that toils in the haze.
The Sun is a soporific. It slows you down; pilfers your ambition; melts you into a listless pool of supine tomorrows. Its anodyne qualities are soothing, but lashing rain and frosty mornings engender bite, caustic wit – a spinning maelstrom of creativity. Sun drenched days gently drift and lilt, a mellifluous haze of artistic reverie. We need an edge.
Bloated space veteran William Shatner once mused, “You know that pain and guilt can’t be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They’re the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are. If we lose them, we lose ourselves. I don’t want my pain taken away! I need my pain!” Guess what? He was right; Spock was wrong; and Sulu likes suckin’ c*ck – who would have thought?
Forgive my ramble into the dunes of meteorological chicanery. But you need an edge in life – whither it’s mental, physical or spiritual. It drives us forward. Sometimes it’s manifestations are nefarious: Hitler, Stalin; sometimes wonderful: Martin Luther King, Ghandi. For every fetid wastrel, there is a selfless hero. This is the Faustian pact we make with human nature. But we need an edge. Otherwise we would loaf about all day – surfing, drinking and talking about sport. Nothing would get done. Hmm…sounds like somewhere I know.
