I have an obligation to me and mine. Others, I do not. Me and mine are humans. Others are members of that amorphous, unnatural collective: Humanity. They are to be despised for preventing me and mine from maximizing our individual potential.
I've obviously spent too much time with literature. "No man is an island," IMHO, extends way beyond the people I know. "Someone lived in a pretty how town": the "hows" did what was expected--took care of family, performed the rites, but all was hollow. The "someones" saw the true connections and the emptiness of the rituals. Sadness was the inability to see the humanity in everyone, particularly those who were different. In "Our Town" Emily, dead in Act III, is allowed to relive one day of her life and is warned not to pick an important day because what she learns will be too painful. She picks her wedding day--I question the unimportance of the chosen day--and only lasts a few hours. What sends her "happily" back to the grave is when she realizes how much people miss by not seeing beyond themseles aand their petty (Wilder would have a bbetter word) lives. And 'll spare you the analysis of Miller's "All My Sons."
But I think maybe the "job" of the artist--whtever form--is to study what binds us all.
Finally, one personal experience and I'll stop. In graduate school I shared an apartment with, IMHO, an unbelievably selfish woman. (Marg, if you ever wander onto this site, that doesn't mean I didn't wind up liking you and remembering our shared adventues with fondness--and amusement.) In the spring Marg's birthday rolled around. I decided to give her a surprise party. Now we were students; translate to we were poor. The only cake I could afford was a Baskin Robbins ice cream one. I bought it and had them write "let there be light." Marg's theatre area was lighting.
We had the party. Afterwards Marg asked why I was so nice--she wouldn't be doind any party for me. My response--someday someone else will. She thought I was cold-hearted and manipulative. I didn't. My thinking is you get back from humanity's "pot" what you put in. Maybe what you get isn't even recognizable, but overall I think we're ALL connected and not to recognize that connection is sad.
"The Road Not Taken" is now on the list,
I've enjoyed the thread.
