Do young people still decorate their walls with giant posters? This was pretty commonplace when I was in high school, less so in college; I myself went through a phase where I had huge prints of Humphrey Bogart and Allen Ginsberg staring back at me enigmatically. (Eventually the images were etched so deeply in my brain that I no longer needed the actual posters).
One thing I never had or wanted - intellectual snob that I was - was any sort of inspirational poster. But I wasn't an asshole about it if a friend had one. (Since the friends that seemed to like these kinds of posters were mostly young women, I had reasons for keeping my thoughts to myself that went beyond simple tolerance).
A big, big favorite was a well-known poem by the therapist Fritz Perls, sometimes referred to as "The Gestalt Prayer". This is how it was transcribed on most posters (along with some pastel swirls or a soulful photo of hands touching):
"I do my thing and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I,
and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful."
And I thought, OK, a little mushy, but hey, also kind of liberating and hopeful, right?
Till one day I read the full text of the poem. And the last line - omitted on every poster I ever saw - is
"If not, it can't be helped."
Wha? Isn't that last line, like, THE MOST IMPORTANT LINE? Doesn't leaving it out turn a really complete, interesting statement about the nature of human relationships into a fucking greeting card?
Needless to say, my rants on this topic probably cost me at least a few intimate encounters back then.
But I guess it couldn't be helped, eh?
One thing I never had or wanted - intellectual snob that I was - was any sort of inspirational poster. But I wasn't an asshole about it if a friend had one. (Since the friends that seemed to like these kinds of posters were mostly young women, I had reasons for keeping my thoughts to myself that went beyond simple tolerance).
A big, big favorite was a well-known poem by the therapist Fritz Perls, sometimes referred to as "The Gestalt Prayer". This is how it was transcribed on most posters (along with some pastel swirls or a soulful photo of hands touching):
"I do my thing and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I,
and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful."
And I thought, OK, a little mushy, but hey, also kind of liberating and hopeful, right?
Till one day I read the full text of the poem. And the last line - omitted on every poster I ever saw - is
"If not, it can't be helped."
Wha? Isn't that last line, like, THE MOST IMPORTANT LINE? Doesn't leaving it out turn a really complete, interesting statement about the nature of human relationships into a fucking greeting card?
Needless to say, my rants on this topic probably cost me at least a few intimate encounters back then.
But I guess it couldn't be helped, eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment