the American dream? what quasi-socialist state was this? the uneducated, or those that just didn’t know any better because they weren’t students of political science, might’ve associated socialism with communism. I did, for years. But a socialist government wouldn’t seize your property under the auspices of producing the country’s food, and then, in a state of hate and terror, allow millions of people to starve to death. Only a communist government would do that.
Nobody was going to seize your property, and, furthermore, nobody was going to make you anything less than a billionaire—you could keep your billion dollars—but, if you had anything more than that, then no, you weren’t going to be allowed to sit on so much of the world’s wealth while Americans were forced to go without healthcare, and children (such as the Palestinians—and Africans, for example) were starving to death. To do so is nothing less than cruel—and, i would posit, inhuman.
how are you? it goes. Now you’ve got me ah, the beginnings of a conversation—or, perhaps, a general greeting that did not require an immediate response. thanks so, this is one continuous stream of thought; i’m unwinding by the fire as are many of the mountain people—or areas, that is, that have fallen trees to burn. this is you’re time, Alex, your dispensation. you have great things ahead of you, great things to consider, and great things to think about, such that, hopefully, you’ll not only be able to put an end to a great amount of suffering, but, also, we want you to provide some spiritual or philosophical correspondence, something that will make the world easier to understand, and more favorable, too, in the same way that faith, for some people, seem to work wonders.
it’s just unfortunate that so many people use fake-faith to block out the suffering of the world—and choose to lie to themselves about the nature of reality, living in a bubble.
you can imagine Jack Daniels in tears if you like—saying, to everybody, that he can’t help what he’s been; and, perhaps, that it will never, ever, happen again. But when you’ve lived the greater portion of your life a certain way, there’s not enough time to make up for everything, and you’re forced to carry your shame to the next life, if there is another life, which, considering the complexity of DNA, and the advances of human intelligence over such a relatively short period of time, we might, perhaps, forget to rule that out. i’m not pushing anything on to anybody—i wouldn’t do that since there are so many other apt ways to go about convincing people that we aren’t that primitive, now, and we certainly won’t be this primitive another hundred to three hundred thousand years from now.
and Jack Daniels would be in tears, at least as he approached the end, since he’d be incredibly lonely, and glued to a merciless TV, more than likely drinking what else but Jack Daniels whiskey. (An alcoholic life is a hard life—and often unforgiving).
Then Alexandria had some general questions about my sexuality, which I answered to the best of my ability (e.g. i’m interested in both women and men, but I’ve never had a crush on a man). “Fair enough,” she said—so I could only hope that she wasn’t homophobic or ignorant enough to assume that I couldn’t possibly have a crush on her.
But I said as much, and her exact words were, “i don’t know any better,” which allowed for the possibility that she’d simply never met any one like me, if not the possibility that her sexuality might’ve been a little gray, and she didn’t understand it, or, it could’ve meant that she was opposed to this possibility, and, consequently, she was saying that she didn’t know how to relate to me without misunderstanding me or offending me, or even the possibility that yes, she was working through a modicum of discomfort or displeasure, viscerally, when dealing with homosexuals.
“No—not that.” “Thanks for the quick response,” i told her, and, no doubt, i was relieved, and it felt good. It’s important to note, however, that I didn’t consider myself a homosexual unless the definition allowed for an attraction to women, which, technically, it did, but the definition was flawed, since it allowed for attraction to women, too, which wasn’t the general understanding of the term (i.e. it would be confusing for me to tell people that i’m homosexual, even if, asked, point blank, with no option to answer but yes or no, i would, by definition, have to say that yes, i’m attracted to men).
You had to answer gossip like this with surgical precision, otherwise people wouldn’t trust you, and they might even be afraid of you.