I’m not sure if you saw, but last week, another thing happened[1]. It was, I hear, a pretty important thing. It got all the people talking, and by all, I mean those on both sides of, well, all that talking. Including those over there and those over there. It’s quite incredible really, when you think about it, that the thing that happened managed to get both sides talking. They always disagree—those sides, both sides, all sides—about everything, except one thing, which is the importance of the thing that happened.
I overheard some of the people over there say that this thing would cause a revolution, that this thing would be the one that changes everything, and that, after this thing nothing will be the same again. People over there said much the same types of things, but in their own way, to their own people. It was remarkable, really. Everyone, of all sides, sort of became unified in the declaration to the thing that happened, swiveled on a dime away from all other things, and gave their full support—from both directions—to the thing. In fact, as soon as this thing that happened happened, it was suddenly like all the other things that have happened didn’t matter anymore, that they were (if anything) just building up to this thing. Nothing else seemed to matter anymore, because the thing was happening. So many things have seemed to have happened now. So many things have passed us by. Each time I see all the people’s faces, all sides faces, and they’re all stalwart in one thing alone, that this time the thing is very serious and of the utmost importance. This time the thing that is happening is both really happening and is also really a thing.
It’s strange though, because the day before the thing happened, a separate thing happened which also got both sides talking in much the same way. And, the week before that, a few other things happened. And, the month before that, quite a lot of things happened, many of which were described in much the same vein. And, if my memory serves me well—which it usually doesn’t, to be frank—there’s just been thing after thing after thing for some time now, and each time a thing happens, it is the thing, the one that will change everything as we know it. Each and every single thing is the thing unto which we pitch everything to…until the next. And everyone is drawn into as themselves, fully. You can watch people who one week talked about this thing as the be-all-and-end-all of everything ever, suddenly state the same about that thing the next. One week they were this thing, the next they were that thing. But, of course, that thing is now this thing, the only thing, for each new thing erases all memory of any other thing that’s since been, it seems.
The thing with these things is, they’re always this or that, that or this, better or worse, good or bad, richer or poorer, life or death, hell or heaven, left or right, blue or red, green or grey, everything or nothing. Every time a thing happens the pendulum rears its ugly head once more and all the people from there scramble in one direction and all the people from there scramble in the other direction. Things of this kind are never neutral, at least where people are concerned. They bring about in all involved a sense of being right, being correct, a sense of collective, the all encompassing orbit of we are right. Each time the people from over there say they are right, all whilst the people from over there also say they’re right. If you’re neither for nor against, it seems, that you are against and against for all involved.
The people from one side look at their own with certainty concerning their take on the thing. The people from the other side look at their own with certainty. Smarmy smirks all round. Then they look at other, and they think, How could they be so wrong? And then they look at anyone not involved in the thing, and both sides think, How could they not be involved? Do they not understand how important this thing is? And then, maybe (though rarely), they look at anyone outside the bounds of thingness and think How immature that is! How defeatist! How cowardly! How silly! How childish! Do they not know what’s at stake? But most of all, all sides, every side, all together yet separate, think to themselves If only they understood the thing as I understood the thing, then everything would be good, would be great, would be perfect, even.
Some people have these things that have really stayed the course. Things from many years ago, even decades, they still cling to. They’ll say things like But do you remember thing! or, You weren’t there for thing, but it was a big deal at the time!, or even, You know, people don’t realize it, but thing really changed the way we see the world. and, each and every time, they can’t see that the thing is gone, it went away very quickly. It changed nothing. But they’re holding onto it. It was very important to them, the thing, whatever it was. In fact, many of these people, with the memories of the thing that happened way back when, are really just trying to be the thing now and forever, but it just isn’t the same, and they think to themselves, Boy, if only these people understood the thing and how it happened.
In time the pendulum will move from one to the other, it always does. What now is good will one day be bad, and in that future, eventually, what is bad will one day again be good. Back and forth it goes. Ever-entertaining for those that seem to enjoy these things. And people believe, from both sides, that if only the thing happened (or didn’t happen, if you’re over there) then everything would be okay. If the thing hadn’t happened, everything would be good, but it did, so everything is bad. Those over there don’t like those who support the thing that happened, and, conversely, those over there don’t like those who oppose the thing that happened. They might switch sides for the next thing, who knows, as long as those and those remain, right?
Another thing happened and those over there like it, and those over there dislike it. That’s about the ring of it all. The thing as this or that, up or down, like or dislike, distinguishes and fragments, and before you know it, you’re there and I’m here, they’re there and they’re there. And from all this that fear arises of separation, of for goodness sake which side do I go to and where the hell do I go and why did this damn-blasted thing have to happen! Another bloody thing has happened and away we go, and off we shoot, and away we’re driven! I wonder where the hell I’ll end up this time, having to make some-or-other choice about this new thing, having only just dealt with the last! I’m assured that this is the one. This is it, the final thing. The final thing that need happen and then, right…then we’ll be fine, then everything will be good, then I’ll be happy, right? Just after this thing? When—and if—I select the right way to go, jump into the right side, agree with the right people, cheer at the right moment…then! Then I’ll be happy! Yes, this is it! This is the thing! This one!
But that’s the crux of it all. Of all the chatter and the gassing and gossiping and heehawing and the politicizing and the rabbling and the clucking and the fighting and the brawling and the hate and the anger and the misery and the misery and the misery, the belief that, if it was the case that the thing hadn’t happened, or, for those over there, had happened, then everything would be fine, we’d all be happy, the people stating such would be happy. If only today’s thing had or had not happened then we would be happy, wouldn’t we? Right?
[1] If you think I’m referring to that thing, you’re wrong. Nope, not that one either. Keep guessing.
The current thing is still a thing.
Love it. Very clever. So accurate in its generalisations. Thank you.