Splicetoday

Writing
Mar 08, 2024, 06:24AM

No Smoking Backstage

Only a fool would believe that.

Img 1034.jpg?ixlib=rails 2.1

This isn’t just another preachy, self-righteous cautionary tale about navigating pseudo-reality. Not your maudlin run-of-the-mill one-way ticket through the cosmos of good and evil, fake versus genuine, add, at no extra cost, a judgmental finger pointing at some truth against lies. Yes, up and down, right or wrong, love wrangling with hate. Some kind of kung fu Yin Yang ding-dong daddy, Feng Shui symmetry of in and out, a Zen-like night and day thing where everything is in its place. We have choices to make. It’s right there in those old, faded black-and-white photos. Maybe you can’t see it? It’s not your average bear, like Yogi. Who knows? We have decisions to make. Go abuse someone else.

Let me wipe the glass screen off with my shirt sleeve. Give it a bit of spit and polish. Then we can see everything clearly. Nothing is worse than a greasy computer screen full of fingerprints and schmutz. It gives artificial intelligence a bad rap. It’s dirty, filthy scum. It’s cheap and shabby. Not only that, but they're deep and shallow together. While being led around by the ring in your nose. The stupidity of the average individual is astounding. I’m no exception to the rule of book smarts versus inherent natural or artificial intelligence, either. It’s the not that it makes people feel happy; they simply believe they’re healthy and wise instead of vaguely aware and in poor health, which keeps them on their toes. Street smarts. We’re tearing down the set in 20 minutes. You've been warned. No smoking backstage.

Call in the stagehands. Change these backdrops, move the props around, and switch up the scenery. There’s only a short intermission. It’s a revolving podium that changes like the seasons as the sun burns down slowly, going in circles as blinding bright golden rays of sunlight. You don’t burn to a crisp in the sun's orbit. Get close enough and evaporate instantly. Poof! Incinerated. A tiny puff of smoke. A perverted imp who does the exact opposite thing as you would expect. This is the way of life in the world’s funniest home videos for modern human history in the making. The greatest hoodwink of all time. Only a fool would believe that.

You may have heard of it before. You said it yourself. Too busy reliving the past to remember zilch now. Who made you the boss? For a second, I thought you meant that the only thing that matters is your opinion. I don’t know where you’re coming from or where I’m going to. One thing I do know is that we have a lot of work to get done. A lot of crap to wade through. When you walk through the door to be judged and mocked by your peers, your betters, and other people, the ones who judge least, you will be judged. Save your prayers. Don’t mock the great bullshitter. I live on the edge of a ghost town. Why do you forsake me? You mistook the Golden Arches for the pearly gates. I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for the truth today. There are no burgers in heaven. Only here, now. Get them while they’re hot. Only stale leftovers are still in town, from days gone by.

We’re not here to amuse you. Only to entertain ourselves. Fooling each other in the face of our own ignorance and playing with clown balls of fire—that's the circus for you. That’s how they win. It's a strange balancing act. You can’t see them in broad daylight walking amongst you on tippy-toes, quietly stalking, watching, and waiting. Covering every single move you make. They’re coming for us. The inquisitors. They have no right. They have no shame. The moral compass is spinning out of control on the homemade, makeshift, broke-down carnival ride of poor judgment on the way to a convenient hell. Conventional thinking tells us that laughter is the best medicine.

Isn’t it amusing when you see people laughing at others? Like in the schoolyard, where we used to play, smoke cigarettes, and tell each other lies. The state of affairs in today's topsy-turvy world. A traditional folklore poem about how we seem to see reality and the nonsense an individual has to face on a daily basis. I know it happened because I was there. The proof is in my absence. This is how you cope with the fact that you’re still alive in a world filled with death and lies. Don’t let them fool you.

Two dead boys
One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back-to-back, they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise.
and ran to save the two dead boys.
And if you don't believe it's true,
Go ask the blind man; he saw it too.

Discussion

Register or Login to leave a comment