Feb 08
My Brother and I
When still at primary school, we had been given a very small,
toy like transistor radio, the size of a current time mobile phone
which we used to share at bed times.
Our mother used to send us to bed very early
before our father's arrival from work
which made it hard to sleep especially during summer time
when we could hear all the other neighbourhood kids
still roaming about, playing merrily till late into the starry night.
My father had decreed:
''we were not allowed to listen to the Sunday Radio Theater''
unless he had read a review prior and had judged it
suitable for our ages.
We were both good kids basically
but temptation often proved much stronger than our best wills
and we ended up frequently disobeying secretly.
Our beds were placed in an L shape in the shared bedroom
with the head sides touching
so it was easy to put the little radio as close as possible
to an equal middle so that both would be able to listen to it
at a very low volume especially when it was obvious
by the content that it would be forbidden.
One of those disobedient nights
we both landed on a very scary play.
So scary that we were frozen and scarcely breathing
and both wishing the radio turned off
but neither dared make the slightest move despite the fact
that it was sitting only a couple of inches away from each.
It was about some crime that someone had committed
and a chorus of several male and female voices
representing the echoing of the offender's conscience
with a haunting, ghost like quality
repeating initially softly, like a whisper
but increasingly louder with each repetition:
"" You have Sold Your Soul to the Devil!"
"" You have Sold Your Soul to the Devil!""
"" You have Sold Your Soul to the Devil!""
Then my brother, much younger as he was, asked with trembling voice:
. . . DO You . . . want . . . the radio ? . . .
I considered the offer carefully for a few seconds in the dark
but if I said yes, that would mean that I would have to ...move
in order to get it... which of course... I did not dare to ...
so I replied with equally trembling voice:
. . . No! . . .
A good lesson learned but only temporarily...
Alter Ego
......
Another disobedient night, another play.
This one was not as scary, but had a very lasting impression
on me because of its strong symbolism
which spoke to me at the time
so much so that even now I can still remember most of it
yet it took many years later to understand its meaning.
I still remember the main part of the story but no title or author:
"A small party of friends and colleagues
are meeting at a friend's house.
A couple of them have already arrived and are talking.
Their conversation is interrupted by another arrival
and some rather peculiar news:
"There are some curious sightings of rhinoceroses in the city"
It sounds odd and unbelievable but it is soon confirmed
by more friends arriving.
Some strange stampeding noises are heard in the street
and the friends gather near the windows
from where they can now witness the curious phenomenon
for themselves.
The last friend to arrive, highly anxious and agitated
brings even more disturbing news
regarding the current situation:
"Some strange virus is affecting anyone
who steps outside their house into the street
causing them to turn into rhinoceroses and join the herds"
Initially the friends decide to remain in the house
until it was all over but as the hours went by
those who had already been exposed to the virus
on their way there, found it difficult to contain themselves.
They felt an irresistible urge to burst out in the streets
and join the herds, so one after another
despite their initial resolve, now gave up and left the house
while the remaining ones witness their transformation
from the windows.
Finally only those who had arrived early
and had not been affected remained.
As the hours went by they came to realise
with tremendous anguish
that more and more people were being converted
and it looked like there was no hope anymore.
They too were doomed, to either stay and die isolated
in the house or to follow the others.
After a lot of agonising resistance only One remained.
In the end, unable to resist on his own any longer, he gave up
and in despair threw himself into the street joining the herds"
******
How often each one of us, despite our own reasoning,
beliefs or ideals find ourselves eventually having to give in
into society's trampling forces turning ourselves into rhinoceroses
and joining the herds in order to avoid isolation, loneliness,
exclusion or discrimination...
Alter Ego
