The Weight of the World

The Weight of the World

When will man ever be satisfied with his own existence?

This is the question that Harry asks to himself out loud every morning. Harry gets up at precisely 6 am. each day and prepares his morning nourishments. Then he walks out onto his teak deck over-looking the forest. 

Harry is a genius. 

Ever since man has had a whim of his power and prowess of the land, he has sought conquest: conquest of other men, other living creatures, and himself.  Modern man fights disease, enforces the rule of law, builds technologically complex structures and because of all this, man seeks to re-create himself as an automated machine in the form of A.I robotics.

Harry lives in this modern world. He is a large integral part of it: the constant development of mans knowledge to further enhance the reach of the human race. Yet Harry gets up every day and asks himself a troubling question. He is concerned that man is going to far, that mankind should stop the march of progress and just be happy with what we’ve got. That conflict drives Harry onward.

Watch Arrival Right Now

Harry is a savant, young, brash when required, and gentleman when not. He easily moves from the laboratory to the boardroom with the comfort only afforded to a modern guru. Harry knows that he can control man and change his behaviors, thereby affecting the future actions of all mankind. He also knows that the wars, greed, sexual over gratification, and hypocrisy will continue no matter what he does. The playing field will alter a little, robots will fight other robots, but in the end it will only have value if other humans die. Humans seem to cherish life precisely because they know that they can destroy it. Humans feel powerful knowing they can remove the ultimate reward, life, and in doing so constantly test their will to cherish life.

Harry knows the essential battle that takes place in the minds of humans each and every day, of each and every human being, is this: Who must I conquer today in order to survive tomorrow?  That survival  not just be the physical form, but must include the idealism inside of each and every human being. Ideals that crash. Ideals that conflict.

Humans do find others who agree, and they live together because they all support a designed survival plan. Sometimes these groups are large and well organized. The power of these human organized groups is impressive—albeit to the members of that group—but there is always a need to increase membership for the survival of each specific group, and that is where conflict among humans always finds a spark. Atoms in human cells energized in pursuit of domination. The rage of neurons begins. 

Tomorrow Harry will get up at 6am, make his morning nourishments, walk out onto his teak deck, and ask himself the same question. Then he will go downstairs get in his Tesla and leave for the office.  Harry is many things, but he will never be able to answer the question that he poses to his great mind each and every day.

 Artemis J Jones 2016

What would Ernest do?

Ben and Jerry have both been working in New York for a long time.  Their friendship has lasted through many jobs and they both have a lot of juicy stories that they could tell, but they’re sure the lawsuits would follow, so they keep their mouths shut. They always meet for lunch on Fridays. Ben calls Jerry at 11am..

“Hey, you have some time for lunch today? 

“Where at?”

“Housing works Bookstore and Café.”

“I don’t know where that’s at. Is it in SoHo?”

“Yeah, it’s at 126 Crosby Street.”

“Why do you want to go there?

“I’m looking for an old book that might help me with a screenplay.”

“Who you working for now?” demanded Jerry.

“Mr. Allen, and I hope he doesn’t walk in while were there.”

“Why?”

“Touchy subject.”

Ben got there first and wrote Ben and Jerry on the list for a table.  He liked to do this, when the servers read the list, they always started looking around the room for the ice cream guys.  Ben had a need to mess with people, even in the slightest way. Jerry didn’t like trouble, so he was kind of Ben’s watchdog. Jerry is a stage manager, and Ben writes screenplays most of the time, the rest of the time he goes about the city looking for occurrences of conflict. He jumps right in, well after the punches have stopped of course, to try to get some feeling of anger, rage, and discontentment.  But let’s be clear, Ben is not a fighter, just a fan.

“Table for Ben and Jerry,” the waiter calls out. The rest of the patrons in the restaurant look to see who these Ben and Jerrys are, curiosity, disappointment, and a smirk on Ben’s face all happen at the same moment.  The waiter takes them to a table with a view of the street.

“So what’re you working on that is so hush, hush? asks Jerry.

“The screenplay is about how people don’t say what’s really on their minds, and how one segment of our society is becoming a little sheepish, and another more arrogant at the same time.”

“That could get deep,” Jerry said while chuckling a little.

“So I’m here because there is supposed to be a first edition biography on Ernest Hemingway. As a historical figure he comes across as a person who spoke his mind. I need some sense of what it would be like to be a person so blunt, in order to continue with the screenplay. Imagine if he were alive today, would he be a success or failure?” Would society dismiss him for his lack of tact, and irascible temper?

“Irascible, that’s what his ex lovers wrote about him when they were in a good mood. He left a trail of women in his wake. I saw the Biography documentary on A & E about ten years ago He flared tempers in his day.  If he was alive today, he’d knock your current employer out cold.”

“What, why,?” asked Ben with a little curiosity.

“His granddaughter has a new book out Out Came the Sun: Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family. It’s a memoir of her life. In the book she tells about how your boss Mr. Allen was constantly trying to get her in bed, always grabbing her ass, as she stood inside the edge of the curtains on stage in low light, pestering her about lunch, and threatening to never allow her to work in this town if she didn’t comply. Your boss was doing all this while he was sleeping with his adopted Asian daughter, and hiding it all from his wife.”

“Let’s order, I’m hungry, and later we need to find that book if it’s still here. Waiter!”

“Two Reuben’s, and two Sam’s Summer Ale please,” Jerry called out to the waiter.

“Mr. Allen’s neurotic behavior will drive the directors mad, after he reads about more of his past shenanigans. And I can’t count how many times he will bother the writing staff. But I like it. Imagine a womanizer beating up another womanizer.  Who do you think would throw the first punch? That is if Ernest was still alive.”

“Dumb question there Bennny: Ernest of course.”

“No, I’m thinking that Mt Allen’s famous paranoid neurotic personality would go straight for his lawyer and get a restraining order. That would be his first punch, hiding behind the legal system. He’d be dancing in a room by himself cheering victory, or cowering behind a large curio in his dining room.”

“Ernest wouldn’t care about that, he’d follow wobbly legs Allen down Broadway and knock him out cold in the street. Can’t you just see him? Ernest Hemingway, limping in his right leg from the plane crash in Africa, dressed in his safari clothes and that symbolic gray beard accenting his scowl. He would be yelling at Mr. Allen, ‘coward,’ with his fists raging through the air as he dragged his bad leg through the streets of New York. Mr. Allen would be screaming for dear life, ‘ he’s a mad man, he’s trying to kill me’, of course no one in New York would care. Everyone would just think he deserved it, that justice was taking place on the streets.”

Jerry looked for their food while a smile of delight over the scene he just imagined went across his face. 

They both ate, and Ben got up and looked for the biography of Ernest Hemingway . Jerry helped, but after one hour and asking for help, it didn’t appear to be in the store. They walked out to 126 street, Ben had to head back to his loft and work, while Jerry headed back toward the New York City theater off Broadway. While Ben walked, he thought about, being direct, being the kind of person that speaks out, right or wrong, and puts all their cards on the table.

“I wonder what that would be like,” Ben exclaimed aloud.

The pedestrians ignored Ben.

© Copyright Artemis J Jones, 2015