Fictionalized.
But otherwise a true story.
I know, I know. You typed in TexasTravelandLeisure.com and this website rudely appeared instead. I have done some housecleaning. OK, I mean, I’m in the process of renovating the new home of my writing. I appreciate your tolerance of the detour in cyberspace. As the saying goes: “Life is what happens when you’ve made other plans.”
“Jim, Shut up and tell me about what you’ve been reading, what you’ve been writing, what you’ve been playing, photographing, etc.” – you say.
OK. I will imagine us in a cozy restaurant; impeccable service; the waiter knows how to disappear. And yes, I hear the voice in my head.
I lean in to tell you something.
Some autobiography follows.
“I have lived long enough to see history erased before my very eyes and I don’t like it.” – I say.
My imaginary date nods with profound understanding with the clear cocktail, somewhat translucent, set before her, still table-bound, not ready for flight. I cannot stress enough the importance of the ability to talk to imaginary friends; for writing, for life.
She adds, “It strikes one as positively Orwellian.” – then takes a draught.
“First of all…” – I try to explain, “they keep referring to them as protesters.”
I observe the placing of the glass, its returning, progress stops as an angelic pensiveness crosses her face. Then resumes.
“Rioters.” – she says.
“See?” – Looking around for the Thought Police. But everyone else in the restaurant, darkening by dusk, is looking at their iPhone intently.
“Jim – Anyone who doesn’t have a cucumber for a brain knows that erasing history is bad for any country, no matter how supposedly bad the people those statues in Golden Gate Park depict.”
“Right.”
“But all too often, people choose the path of least resistance.”
“You mean, the protesters, err, I mean rioters, felling or defacing statues are choosing the path of least resistance?”
She pondered at this, then, replied: “No. The people who let them make it easy to forget history do.”
