I met the Most Powerful Man In Town a few days back. He looks like a Powerful Man...his suit costs more than most people make in two months, and he has about him not the look of a hungry young predator, but that of a self-satisfied lion at the height of his strength. Well, that's how he looks when you first meet him, anyway.
Here is a man who has political and economic clout over close to a half-million people. At a word from him, bars can gain or lose a liquor license. With the flick of his hand, he can rezone you right out of business, or do the same to your competitors. He is not of the city, he is the city.
We chatted at a black-tie party I had managed to finagle an invitation to, and I gather he didn't get out much. The punch was making him talkative, and I've never met an actual autocrat before, so I was happy to listen.
"There's always so much to do", he said, "There's never time to DO anything".
"Don't you have people for that?"
"Yes, but if they knew what they were doing, they'd be me."
Har har! How's THAT for arrogance? Here is the guy who is, arguably, the man that makes The City work, and he can't trust his underlings.
But is it really arrogance? I mean, looking around at The City, it's fairly easy to believe that the garbage won't get picked up on its own (because that contract isn't going to negotiate itself), the water may or may not show up when you turn on the tap...because our civil infrastructure is made up of people who have made an entire career out of not making decisions.
And that's where The Most Powerful Man comes in. Ever city's got one...sometimes you know who they are (Hello, Mayor Daley of Chicago), and sometimes they're not so visible (Our Most Powerful Man isn't even an official member of the city government).
"So, what do you do to relax?"
"Well, after work, I sit in my office on the top floor of the _____ building, and I gaze out over The City, and I take comfort in the fact that it is MY city, and it makes me richer every time I draw a breath. Sometimes I do that."
"Doesn't the bible say, 'What profits a man to gain the whole world, if he loses his soul'?"
"It profits you The World. And that's enough for me."
"You say sometimes. What else do you do?"
"Sometimes I walk over to the window of my office, and I look down 50 stories onto The City. And I dream about crashing through that window, and being free for the four and a half seconds it takes to reach the ground. Then I go back to my desk and take the next call from some whimpering alderman who can't get any results out of the sanitation department."
I left a short while later, when people started asking questions about how the punch tasted, but I couldn't get the guy out of my mind. I mean, here's a guy that has what most people can only dream of...immense wealth and power, and the will to use it.
And his fondest wish, his most cherished fantasy, is to splatter himself all over the sidewalk on Congress St.
Ain't that a bitch?
Or kill me.
:mittens: :mittens: :mittens:
I laughed uncontrollably...
fuck yah
cant wait till you come out with a book
ill try to convince my friends IRL (yes there are some) to buy if available
That story is full of win, and lulz
Excellent.
You're really a much more intriguing writer than at least half the prose I read, Rog. Why not try and get published?
p.s; it'd be more than half, but for a really great reading list as of late
This put me in mind of a documentary I watched recently, about the people who jumped (or were forced) from the windows of the World Trade Center in the attacks on 9-11.
One of the relatives of a person who died in the North Tower said that it was the last moment of freedom this obviously doomed person could seize, and that it was beautiful.
Not a direct correlation, of course, The Powerful Man isn't trapped in in a building where it's a raging inferno beneath them, and about to collapse. But it put me in mind of it anyway.
Nicely written. Getting out of the damned fresh air has done you good.
Keep pounding those keys, brother!
Quote from: LMNO on April 16, 2008, 03:05:56 PM
Keep pounding those keys, brother!
I'm working on it. Right now, I'm having a lot of fun writing about the people I meet, rather than the situations I meet them in.
Quote from: Dr. Felix Mackay on April 16, 2008, 08:20:53 AM
You're really a much more intriguing writer than at least half the prose I read, Rog. Why not try and get published?
p.s; it'd be more than half, but for a really great reading list as of late
I am trying. What I'm after right now is a paying job for a periodical.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 17, 2008, 03:43:17 AM
Quote from: Dr. Felix Mackay on April 16, 2008, 08:20:53 AM
You're really a much more intriguing writer than at least half the prose I read, Rog. Why not try and get published?
p.s; it'd be more than half, but for a really great reading list as of late
I am trying. What I'm after right now is a paying job for a periodical.
That would be so prime! I'd order it.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 17, 2008, 03:43:17 AM
Quote from: Dr. Felix Mackay on April 16, 2008, 08:20:53 AM
You're really a much more intriguing writer than at least half the prose I read, Rog. Why not try and get published?
p.s; it'd be more than half, but for a really great reading list as of late
I am trying. What I'm after right now is a paying job for a periodical.
try Playboy.
srsly. they love stuff like that, and they pay well.
Yeah, thats good advice.
Or maybe Rolling Stone. They hired Matt Tiabi, after all, so someone there obviously isn't averse to this sort of material.
This new style TGRR, I like it.
It sounds like your Very Important Primate™ got everything he ever wanted and got bored.
When I see Owen Wilson attempt suicide and Brittney Spears freak out and shave something, or think of Hemingway or Cobain, I'm reminded that all their millions probably can't buy them an iota of the joy and satisfaction I feel doing mundane things every day of my life.
I've always wondered whether wealth would change me (negatively), and I've never come to a satisfying conclusion.
I've always found the Epicurean idea of life somewhat appealing. Nourishing food, a roof over your head, and decent conversation all day long.
Then again, I've had that for 4 years and nearly gone stir-crazy because of it, so maybe not.
The insanity is integral to my happiness.
Quote from: Cain on April 18, 2008, 01:45:20 PM
I've always found the Epicurean idea of life somewhat appealing. Nourishing food, a roof over your head, and decent conversation all day long.
Then again, I've had that for 4 years and nearly gone stir-crazy because of it, so maybe not.
Stir crazy can be ok.
Wait for it,
In moderation. :lulz:
What was in the punch?
Most worthwhile read, good perspective on what ends up really mattering to people.
Heh. :)