Yeah Again. No I Don’t Have A Reason.

Last week I talked about my love for Post Office and then trailed off into something. This week I’d like to preach about other great books that I enjoy. I thought about twenty different topics while coming up with the one for last week. I can remember at least five. Not sure that I will get there by the end, but we can hope.

Lets start with a cliché book that most of us were forced to read in school, but I actually enjoyed. Not in school, but years later. I have this weird thing where if you tell me to read something… Well I’m not… I mean by force. By all means keep suggesting titles. I do check those out. I had the same problem in gym. I’ll run a fucking mile when I want to run a fucking mile. Put the stop watch away already damn….The book is called Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Even though I’m really into history. That isn’t why I like the book. Strip that all away. Stripe away that it is about government, countries, and all that political shit. Do you still like the book? That is why I love this book. I like all the political stuff and find all of it more fascinating than I have time to get into right now, but most of all I love the simplicity of the story. I am overwhelmed with wonder at the way George Orwell’s story about a farm could be so powerful on the surface. Which is why I didn’t like this book in school.

In school we lost this. We lost the simplicity of the story because they wanted to teach us something. The deeper meaning of it all. But that’s the fucking thing about Animal Farm. The story is so simple that it natural teaches you something. It sticks with you and when you look back on it as you grow older… As you grow older it is like a bomb going off in your head.

Now that I am so removed from school. Now that I have been in the world. Lived in this world. Animal Farm speaks louder to me than ever before. Each character is someone we know. I work with a Clover, I’m bossed around by a Napoleon, I happily champion for a Snowball, we all know a Squealer, and I am Boxer.  At my job I am the work horse. At work if they want something done they call me in. I knock it out and I move on. And like Boxer I am often left behind.

I am treated as though I am stupid. As though Ambrose couldn’t get it. Here go throw another case or go do this. I carry people on my back. I help everyone around me for the greater good. So that everyone can have an easier time at work. I can do it so why not? Because it isn’t fair. That isn’t how life should work. Everyone should be pulling their own weight when it comes to the job. Problem is that often this doesn’t happen. Once established as a Boxer always going to be a Boxer. No matter how hard I try to break free from this role. I am what I am. We all have our place in this fucked up farm.

Okay now insert all that political under tone and what you have is a great fucking book. A book that as a writer I hold above me as a bench mark. Can I write something this fucking good. No, but I’m going to try until I do. Because the world needs a work horse and if I have to make a fucking windmill to do it. I’ll make a fucking windmill to do.

 

 

 

 

37 thoughts on “Yeah Again. No I Don’t Have A Reason.”

  1. Went to school during Maggies reign. The thought of a student being encouraged to read on Orwell book? Hah! No chance.

    I have read it later in life, and I agree. We are an animal. Interesting how over time people often gravitate to the extremes of their chosen animal. My job and the people in it overworked me until I collapsed and left. The first time I went back, I discovered they had sent me to the knackers instead of the vet. Their whiskey was avoiding the blame for a plethora of issues and pinning them on me because I was no longer there.

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    1. I wish I knew more about the Maggie years… After we joined Great Britain in World War 2 our history of Britain drops off a cliff… I know she was either loved or hated, but not much liked… going to read about her next…

      That is pretty messed up… I hope you don’t still work there?… I would like to believe that your bosses saw through their bull shit, but I know a thing or two about fiction…

      It is very interesting how over time we gravitate towards the extremes… Do you think it is an unchecked thing?… No one stopped them so they snowballed into something worse… or it was bound to happen no matter what?…

      Also… I got really hyped about Animal Farm… haha… like super hyped…

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      1. That’s the place I quit last year. No idea what I was going to do and £1500 worth of bills to pay a month just to exist. Had I stayed there, it would have killed me. Riding a motorbike through London traffic 2-4 hours a day while angry on a commute. Crusin for a bruisin.

        My boss understood. He hires me every so often to help clean things up or to give marketing a boost. The place has laid off 80% of the staff and is now down to a skeleton crew. Right up to the last day, managers will blame me for the downfall of the company. The owner and the staff all know it was the managers and they’ll never change.

        Unchecked and age. The brain changes and sets in its ways. People move in circles they agree with, even without the internet. Right wingers read the Daily Mail or watch Fox News. The left are no better. The UK is truly a county divided by age.

        https://yougov.co.uk/news/2017/06/13/how-britain-voted-2017-general-election/

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      6. Yeah driving a motorcycle angry is never a good idea… Separate note… pretty bad ass you ride… Are they really not as popular as Clarkson makes them out to be?… That is one hell of a commute… is London really that big?…

        Pretty cool that they let you pick up hours… I don’t think I’d go back… but I understand needing the money… Some days though I’d rather drag my ass across a cheese grater then show up at my job… Sad part is I don’t even do anything that horrible… It is just not what I want to do with my life…

        The UK is really divided… that is really crazy… I thought America was bad… What do you think will be the long term repercussions from it?…

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      7. London is about 27 miles across as the crow flies. Traffic speed is painfully slow. I would filter the entire journey, doorstep to doorstep. The constant traffic lights is what kills the time though.Most of it’s only 1 or 2 lanes as well. I sometimes dream of American roads…

        My boss was OK about me leaving and totally understanding. I gave him over a months notice and spent a month trying to train everyone up. I left them with a 150 odd page handbook on everything I did. It was the middle management that was the problem. Going back in as an outsider was fine because aside from fixing everyones computers while I was in I didn’t have to deal with any of them. If anything the boss was even more candid with me about how everyone was doing. I got on really well with all the office and warehouse staff too. So it’s a little less needing money, than a mutally enjoyable post employment if that makes sense?

        Oh boy, yes. Theres been several studies released that say by the time we leave the EU, enough older folk would had died that if they redid the vote, the Remain side would win. Long term. The young are getting towards the old. The inner cities are getting bitter towards middle england. Not a pleasant thing. It’s going to get worse short term as we have no middle ground leaders that can heal the country. Only the far left Corbyn or the extreme right May. There’s no end in sight for at least 5 years thanks May holding a snap election and flailing so badly. Pointless election that left us deeper in the soup. We’ve got 5 years to find a middle ground leader again. If not, it will keep getting worse.

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      8. That is a lot larger than I thought… It sounds like it is really spread out… That’s how it is where I live too… Traffic is bad here, but it isn’t that bad… with no accidents it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to get to the other side of the city… With accidents though… good luck… could be hours…

        Your boss sounds pretty cool… That does make sense… actually pretty cool… Right now I can see never wanting to go back to my job, but if I got to pick the hours or agree upon them short term.. that wouldn’t be so bad…

        I get all my British news from John Oliver… haha… and it didn’t sound like it was going to be a fun time… I’m really surprised separating from the EU was even something that would come up… Everything is different from the outside, but the EU seemed like a good idea to me… Every country goes through ups and downs… The whole city vs middle country sounds very familiar to me… In New York there was always talk about making the city separate from the rest of the state… Hell here in Texas people talk about being their own country all the time… I’m sure it happens everywhere… This middle ground leader… What is that?… Is it just a moderate politician or an actual position in the government?…

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      9. Ah, spread out, nono my friend. Here’s a thing. New York is what, 14,000km area? It has about 19 million people? London has about 9 million people. So you’re thinking the area is maybe 7,000km right? Nope. The area of London is 1,500km… Imagine how jam packed that is… Haha!

        The last year or so my boss let me work 1 day a week from home and for the last 5 or 6 years my position had no title. He paid me to just show up and do whatever I want. A blessing and a curse, he never breathed down my neck, but I’d been there 17 years. I would fill in for people off sick ontop of my own work. First one in, turning the alarm off and letting everyone in, last one of the gate at night. It did just end up too much and everyone knew it.

        Biggest problem the UK has is the press. The Daily Mail, Sun and Sky have far to much power. Old media is dying slowly, but it’s still a constant barrage of right wing spun news to the most vile degree.

        This is the sort of shite we have forced on us: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/daily-mail-nazi-propaganda-front-page-ipso-complaints-brexit-eu-enemies-of-the-people-a7409836.html

        As for the EU, it’s got a lot of problems. It has spineless leaders, unbalanced economics and dire red tape. That said, I feel we would have been better in than out. But the vote wasn’t won on balanced arguements. It was won by hyperbole, lies and… Well… This sort of shite…

        Though funny, going back to the age divide, check out the article that image came from.

        http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/city-university-students-vote-ban-sun-daily-mail-express-campus-1592343

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      10. wow… the newspapers seem like a real shit show… I have no idea how you can traverse all of that information without picking a side and going with it… The waters seem very muddy… Pointing fingers with no real solution other than I am right… Left or right they seem too very much go to the extreme… You are right you need a middle ground leader with everyone’s interests at heart…

        17 years at the same place… I have a hard time sticking with a job… 5 years is the longest I have stayed with a job… Though I have moved a lot…

        NYC is crazy… I lived on the other side of the state… If I had lived in the city they would have to have kicked me out before I left…

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      11. Oh and yes, a moderate politician. Jeremy Corbyn is extreme socialist and Theresa May is ultra right wing. In a nation as divided as ours, having either in power will not help heal wounds of the last few years.

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  2. Holy cats – I’m right with you with how we teach literature in school. (Ok, the Scarlet Letter was obnoxious) and does EVERYTHING have to have a meaning? Sometimes I wonder if the authors ever intended for those meanings or if some poor, lonely lit enthusiasts pulled something out of nothing. LOL. I really enjoyed “1984” by George Orwell and regularly read classics because I simply enjoy them. Not everything has to be a lesson – and I think you’re right, sometimes you just learn from enjoying a book. Great post, thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by… I can’t speak for all writers and I won’t… but for me… I don’t try to teach a lesson or have a hidden meaning in my stories… not on purpose at least… I only write how I feel… Now can someone else find meaning and my words?… Of course and I love hearing what they have discovered in the comments… I don’t think there is a wrong answer when it comes to art and the way it makes you feel…

      I enjoy the classics and there is a reason they are still around… whether for “hidden meanings” or art… 1984 was good… Have you read Brave New World?…

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      2. I haven’t read that one yet. I’ll have to check it out. I’ve made it my goal to read 50 books in 2018 so maybe I’ll make a list and add it.

        And you’re right – if someone else finds meaning in my work that definitely feels good and I enjoy hearing it.

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  3. Layne!!!! This was an awesome chew! I love how the shape of your glass brings to light a few deep thoughts. Poignant!

    “A book that as a writer I hold above me as a bench mark. Can I write something this fucking good. No, but I’m going to try until I do.”

    My favorite line! 😊

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