It's Just A Ride

Sent as a present from Annam -
A red cockatoo.
Colourful like the pearl tree blossom,
Speaking with the speak of men.

And they did to it what is always done
To the learned and eloquent
They took a cage with stout bars
And shut it up inside

Po Chu (AD 772 - 840) - The Red Cockatoo. From Chinese Poems On The Underground


The world is like a ride in an amusement park and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round and has thrills and chills and is very brightly coloured and very loud.

And it's fun.

For a while.

Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question: "is this real or is this just a ride," and other people have remembered and they come back to us and say: "Hey, don't worry, don't be afraid. Ever."

"Because this is just a ride."

And we kill those people.

William Melvin Hicks (AD 1961 - 1994). From the DVD Revelations


It strikes me that the universal truths are those that span centuries, that span cultures, that span skin colours, that span languages. It saddens me that despite all our protestations to being the smartest monkeys nothing much has changed.



Tunes: Kate Stables: Creeping Up Our Shins, from the album This Is The Kit. This song made me cry.