But inside is the only “place” there is or ever was. If you ain’t there you ain’t nowhere baby. That illusion about owning some little corner of the earth? thank god that went away. Nobody can own the earth, not even a 40 X 100 piece of it. You only rent it for a little while and after they bury you in it they rent it to somebody else. Culture, language, custom? More illusion. “My bad English is better than your bad Spanish.” (Gimmie a break) “If you wanna belong to our church you better behave yourself in your bedroom or we kick you out.” (Yeah, right) Wasn’t it Groucho said, “I wouldn’t want to belong to an organization that would have me as a member If Ireland is the only ‘place’ and Irish is the only ‘culture’ why are all the Irishmen scattered across the planet? My Grandmother who was born and raised there got out as soon as she could and never went back. All her life she called it, “that terrible place.” She used to sing all the sad songs and imagine some Irish Shangri-La that never existed, but she was much better off in the tenements of Hell’s Kitchen and she knew it. Ever read Angela’s Ashes?
Only those of us who are afraid to go inside are destined to wander the earth looking for something that doesn’t exist. Going inside is scary as hell and a lot of people never make the journey, but there ain’t no other place to go.
Frost wrote:
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I
I took the one less traveled by
and that has made all the difference. . .
I wrote:
I too have often made the choice
to take the road less traveled,
to try to find the better way
weather paved or tarred or graveled,
but I’ve gradually discovered
as I’ve gone along my ways
that the road’s not so important
as the how-I-live-my-days
and it hasn’t seemed to matter
where I’ve been or how I’ve gone
because the joy is in the journey
not the road I travel on.
But inside is the only “place” there is or ever was. If you ain’t there you ain’t nowhere baby. That illusion about owning some little corner of the earth? thank god that went away. Nobody can own the earth, not even a 40 X 100 piece of it. You only rent it for a little while and after they bury you in it they rent it to somebody else. Culture, language, custom? More illusion. “My bad English is better than your bad Spanish.” (Gimmie a break) “If you wanna belong to our church you better behave yourself in your bedroom or we kick you out.” (Yeah, right) Wasn’t it Groucho said, “I wouldn’t want to belong to an organization that would have me as a member If Ireland is the only ‘place’ and Irish is the only ‘culture’ why are all the Irishmen scattered across the planet? My Grandmother who was born and raised there got out as soon as she could and never went back. All her life she called it, “that terrible place.” She used to sing all the sad songs and imagine some Irish Shangri-La that never existed, but she was much better off in the tenements of Hell’s Kitchen and she knew it. Ever read Angela’s Ashes?
Only those of us who are afraid to go inside are destined to wander the earth looking for something that doesn’t exist. Going inside is scary as hell and a lot of people never make the journey, but there ain’t no other place to go.
Frost wrote:
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I
I took the one less traveled by
and that has made all the difference. . .
I wrote:
I too have often made the choice
to take the road less traveled,
to try to find the better way
weather paved or tarred or graveled,
but I’ve gradually discovered
as I’ve gone along my ways
that the road’s not so important
as the how-I-live-my-days
and it hasn’t seemed to matter
where I’ve been or how I’ve gone
because the joy is in the journey
not the road I travel on.
But you know all that already.