THE VISION OF THE MARTYR FRED · AS EXPURGATED FOR THE
CENTRALIANS
Nonsense that shouldn’t be read
Chapter 20
Speak to me of your sense of time,
2You who were raised with a rapacious hunger for the new,
3And a positive scorn for what is old or out of date,
4Do your grandparents live with you?
5Or in another city?
6Or in a home somewhere?
7And have you ever talked with them about things that happened in the past,
8Provided you know anything about what happened in the past,
9And have you ever learned their slang,
10Or listened to their music,
11Or danced their dances,
12Or tried to see your world from their point of view?
13Do you read old books for pleasure,
14Books written before you were born,
15And before your parents were born,
16Before there were movies and records and telephones?
17Do you ever talk with people who aren’t about your own age,
18And I mean really talk with them,
19About events,
20And ideas,
21And your hopes and fears,
22And the meaning of life,
23And god and history and human accomplishment?
24Do you feel a deep respect, or even awe, for a single old old person who has stayed alive through it all and acquired some wisdom along the way?
25Do you ever just sit and wonder about the past,
26And what it was really like,
27Before there were cars and TVs and electricity and hospitals and jet airplanes and rock and roll?
28Do you ever ponder visions of the future,
29And what it could be,
30And what you could do to change the world,
31If you dreamed and worked for it hard enough?
32That’s okay.
33Really.
34It’s just that you are Harriers,
35And Today is one wall of your box.
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Chapter 20 / 29