Yes Dear

retrieved from a post published elsewhere on October 20th, 2016

In my last I mentioned “a post in preparation, called ‘Just Words’, but it may take several days, or forever.” All very well but there is real life to be lived, can’t leave this hanging & festering like a debt with mounting interest due. “Just Words” has been consigned to the great junkyard of unwritten ideas, but not before I argued on its behalf to Karleen, as we started yesterday’s walk. Here’s a summarized reconstruction.

V: I’m doing this post, it’s called “Just Words”, with all the ambiguities implied in that, you know . . .

K: Yes, dear.

V: Words are all I have to offer these days, but there’s already too many of them in the world, mostly foolishness. Of course, we cannot change what is, and what has been up till now. There’s no arguing with that . . .

K: No, dear.

V: The foolishness goes deeper than the content of words, with all the hideous clichés they employ. It can be traced to the underlying intent. People want to avoid thinking, so they talk in clichés & get away with it. And when they’re not paid hacks they seek reward in Facebook “likes” . . .

K: Yes, dear.

V: Foolishness pervades the news, religion, atheism, capitalism, public ownership, TV, radio . . .

K: Yes, dear.

V: Take the Nobel Prize. The scientific ones make perfect sense. They give meaning to the lives of all those poor scientists, tunnelling away in obscurity for their entire working lives, on all those boring subjects, all in hopes for that glorious day when they strike gold and they emerge into the global spotlight . . .

K:  . . . (tries to say something)

V: . . .but what’s the point of a Peace Prize, a Literature Prize? Do those who are deemed to advance the cause of literature (whatever that might mean), or Peace, pursue their work in hopes of gaining such an accolade? Or for the money? Hardly. These prizes are a glorified sort of Facebook “like”. I’m proud of Bob Dylan for ignoring his.

K: He ought to thank them, it’s the least he could do, out of politeness.

V: No, he’s making a statement by his silence, don’t you see? He’s being true to himself, same as he always has done. Jean-Paul Sartre didn’t want his prize either.

K: Why don’t you shut up now, and enjoy the view?

And so we did.

There were 6 thoughts on “Yes Dear”

ellie Clayton
From Dylan’s Chronicles
Page 218
“I would have liked to give him the kind of songs that he wanted, like “Masters of War,” “Hard Rain,” “Gates of Eden,” but those kinds of songs were written under different circumstances, and circumstances never repeat themselves. Not Exactly. I couldn’t get to those kinds of songs for him or anyone else. To do it you have to have power and dominion over the spirits. I had done it once, and once was enough. Someone would come along eventually who would have it again – someone who see into things, the truth of things – not metaphorically, either, but really see, like seeing into metal and making it melt, see it for what it was and reveal it for what it was with the hard words and vicious insight.”

Bryan White
I think I’d agree with Karleen about the award, although I probably don’t know enough about it to really have an informed opinion. All things being equal, I’d assume that these people, this committee or whoever decides these things, mean well and are just trying to see that people get recognized for their accomplishments and, in that case, the gracious thing to do would be to thank them and move on, even if you feel thst you’ve had fame and recognition enough for twenty lifetimes. If, on the other hand, there’s that “Facebook like” aspect to it, by which I assume you mean someone trying to ride the coat tails of someone else’s success via sealing it with their own approval like an obnoxious person leaning into the frame of a photograph and pointing at the person who is the focus of the photograph and giving them a big dumb smile and a thumbs up, then yes, I can see someone taking the stance of just ignoring them. But again, I don’t really know anything about it.

Cindy
Thanks for posting today! Looks like you guys are having a gorgeous Fall this year. The photo of K is very serene & beautiful, as if nature has claimed her for one of its own.
I chuckled at the “deer” and “dear”. It occurred to me that if the ‘doyenne’ was spelled like ‘doe’ you could of used it there, too.

Bryan White
Oh deer me. I missed my shot at all those puns. If these nobel prize winners had a buck for every time someone fawned over them, they’d sure have a pile of doe.cynthiahj’s

Cindy
D’oh
I appreciate how Dylan likes to buck the system, but I can’t decide if I should respect his silence. If it’s just him being true to himself like, Vincent said. Or just an excuse for being rude. But don’t get me wrong…I am quite fawned of the little dear.

Vincent
Note to self: resist temptation to puns, starting now. Tho’ the deer just presented themselves, and were so far off we did need to verify that’s what we were seeing. Many’s the time I’ve used the camera lens as a time-lapse telescope (or microscope), bringing home images not visible to the naked eye, in that moment.

Those words from Bob Dylan too, the last few lines, are so enlightening about the extraordinary nature of his gift, his need to nurture and protect it, that I respect whatever he does, short of fawning idolatry. And you do have an extraordinary gift yourself, Ellie, I mean one that you make visible, time after time, of pulling out quotations that add to the matter under discussion.

Not that I mean to disparage the “Facebook like”—I disparage the very idea of disparaging that I find in myself, but I’ve long noticed that comments here add value, more than they indulge in mere exchanges of compliments.

Nevertheless, exchanges of compliments, or acknowledgements of same, are part of polite society, in which everyone notices the lapses from best behaviour, & quite right too. & I’m glad none of us have reached a judgement on Bob’s.

That’s a lovely compliment I’ll pass on to K, well-deserved, spot on.

See also my comment today, below