The Fool’s Paradise
A Reflection on Resentment and Vigilance
Yuck! Do you see that? No, in front of us!
What? How can you not see him? You really are something else!
In front of us, on the bench! There!
Yes, now you see him? My God, I knew you were blank in the brain, but that was truly something!
Does it not frustrate you? I mean, just look at how he’s sitting: His eyes lazily following those strolling by, offering up a half-hearted grin as they pass. His arms lining the back of the bench. At any moment someone could march right up to him, throw their morning coffee on him and ruin his whole day!
And does he look prepared for that?
No! He’s playing the part of the fool!
A fool who should soon learn to fear the world he inhabits before he falls too far into his paradise daydream!
Am I spiteful? Why, I should soon teach you to fear my - I’m sorry.
But no, of course not! Of him? Ha!
I’ll say, you might be as dull as a rock, but you’ve got a nugget of humour rolling around up there!
I know you’ve little to say, so I’ll explain why this caricature of peace is a fool’s game.
And don’t think this is coming from some old Scrooge! No, see, I once sat on that bench, metaphorically, of course!
I would spend hours upon hours watching the world pass by, nodding my head to anyone who would dare pay me the time of day!
I would offer up my very spirit to the breeze, convinced that the world was a garden meant for my wandering!
I was soft, my friend.
Pliable as clay and twice as dumb!
I thought that by being harmless, I had earned a life free from harm!
But tell me, dear friend, does the wolf spare the sheep simply because the sheep has no teeth?
Ah! I see that look in your eye! You think I’m bitter! You think I’ve let the frost get into my bones!
But I am merely awake!
Turn your funny looks towards him!
Notice how his head is turned to one side, following those geese walking down the path?
A fool!
At any moment, the sky could open up!
And watch how his face will fall then!
He’ll think, “How foolish of me to have sat here! If only I had kept my gaze towards the clouds!”
His peace is merely a lie he tells himself.
How would I know? Ha! What individual does not partake in society and deflect their fear away with the mundane existence offered?
That’s how I know!
You see, my dear friend, one cannot merely inhibit and go unscathed.
To be so peaceful, one must either reject existence, be God himself, or be a walking corpse, and I am almost certain that he still has a pulse!
Perhaps a splash of coffee would set him straight?
He survives only because the rest of us are watching the perimeter!
He is a passenger!
Come, let’s keep walking.
The sight of such an individual truly upsets me.
One day, he’ll learn, I can assure you of that!
Whether that be an individual act or the world collapsing around him, he’ll rue the day he sat with complete peace!
This reminds me of the book The Idiot from Dostoevsky
This low key had me choking on my dang tooth paste!!! You almost killed me with your clever words dang it!!!! You’re on another level… and I look up at you in awe of your talent, I am but a novice. And you are a master of the game!