In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Wonderland 2004
A Hearing With a Heron
Alice rounded the corner, where she found herself face to face with a Congress of Beaks. The Great Blue Heron presided over lesser birds, regarding them on one foot with a simpering expression.
"But why are dogs involved?" the tiny birds wanted to know.
The Blue Heron paused. "The Dog ... pursues the Quarry." His statement was followed by impenetrable silence.
"But the quarry is us!" the little birds shrieked.
"You ... Me ... is relative ...." The Heron shifted a leg and swallowed something imaginary.
The birds fidgeted. "How is it," one of them asked, "we find ourselves in the position we're now in? Something's got to give."
"Some things ... are seldom gotten. ... And rarely given." The Heron stood stark still.
"Anything gotten must have been given," Alice added. The birds regarded her.
"And by the same token," the Heron replied, "anything given must have been gotten."
"Anything given gotten!" the rest of them chirped. Soon this turned into a chorus of "Anything gotten given" and finally "Anything, anything, anything at all!"
Alice considered the value of this. "It seems true, on the face of it," she continued, "but I don't remember ever getting anything back that I gave away in the first place."
"In the first place," the Blue Heron responded, "you must have given anything away."
"In the first place," a sparrow shouted, "you don't remember getting anything back."
"Come to think of it," Alice mused, "I don't remember getting anything back."
"That's because you never gave it in the first place." The Heron looked stupidly at Alice.
"She never had it to begin with!" the rest of the Congress agreed.
"This meeting is adjourned," the Heron proclaimed. All the birds fluttered.
"This meeting never took place," one of them ventured.
"If this never took place," Alice wondered aloud, "then where do I stand, exactly?" No sooner had she asked this than the entire company vanished, leaving nothing but an echo of her question, dangling in thin air.
- Michael 10:43 PM - [PermaLink] -
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