RE: Questions Dealing With People

(The White Knight, 2007)

Open Letter In Response to:

Open Dialogue: Questions Dealing With People by Christopher Heller

Dear Mr. Heller,

(How do I say this without sounding like I am delivering advice)

As humans, we are given too much choice, even for how we breathe. We can choose to fill our lungs through the mouth, or through the nose, and recently, I have been noticing when walking down the street of how my face would appear to strangers around me when my lips are slightly parted when gently breathing via my mouth. I have since switched to breathing from the nose, in the same sense of eating with my mouth closed, something I have grown accustom to since childhood. I ponder the act of being closed-mouth, and ask of you, how different being physically closed-mouth on a daily basis, whether in eating or breathing, from being closed-mouth in the sense of being reserved of opinion and verbal response.
In terms of appearance, the modern human has come a long way from the cavepeople lion cloth, or ropes of Paganism, but what does the modern human trend to wear? Falling into category, the choice is what feels best, and what is best is often socially adapted. On some days I'll put something on, take it off, and put something else on, and sometimes even further, I'll lift my flesh from the muscle and replace it with another, until I find the right appearance to embrace the day. But I ask why; why must I carry out these laborious measures to please viewers of I? Does my demographic determines who I am, and what social grouping I feel like I belong to.
Can we scratch off all this sociology and just talk lamesman for a moment? I am adequate to say I am an honest person. For example I correct myself, I tell others of my own corrections to their ways, or at least advocate it. And more often than not, I experience awkward and frustration from my honesty to myself and to others. But as I talk of self-benefit in a complex matter, I see open-honesty as a challenge; to say what you mean, and to stand by your words. I guess we all have our goals and admiration, and to be honest, to be well-spoken, even to the point where you reveal your flaws to perfect strangers, is something I see as the only way to live with myself. I mean, we're all in the same boat here, we're adrift, and as those sad and lonely existentialists would say, we're all lost causes (or perhaps I got the wrong message out of Existentialist 101). I guess what I am trying to get at here, after all the bullshit has been spoken for is, you. are. not. alone. and. we. are. all. in. the. dung. together. getting. dirty. being dirty. and some are having fun, and others not, but what's the difference really. There is no reward in living, only in surviving. At the end of the day, it's all about living with yourself, are you satisfied (I hope not, because if you aren't satisfied that means you're still thirsty, you still got fight, you still got kick, and goshdarnit, people like you)?
For some humans, freedom of speech is the climax on the tit (pronounced in this case as, teet, for the sake of rhyme), for others is about simply say what is, and that's about it.

"I'M FINISHED IT!"

Sincerely,

-b

[original letter from Christopher Heller]

Why can't I look at someone and smile at them? Why can't I tell someone, "I like looking at you. I wonder how you spend the day"?

While walking down the stairs commenting on another man's shoe, why do I feel so judged? Why can't I say what I want? Tell jokes that I want? Tell people, in my humble opinion, what the right thing to do is? How come I have to try so hard to be seen as an all-right dude? Will people have the temerity to say what they feel? Or do we not have a clue as to what to feel about another person? How come I can't cum on someone's tits?

How come people don't give a shit about giving a shit? Well if not, does it really matter to all of us to be among one of us?

How in the hell can you tell me what it means to be me? Maybe I have too good a sense of who I am and not a suspicion as to who you are, is that what I'm all about? Figuring out who you are? Or am I lost completely?

I hear too often the phrase, "All I want to do is..." This limiting, narrowing, simplifying statement tries to get at the meaning of what makes us happy absurdly sacrificing the complexities of happiness. I am thrilled to ask socially noxious questions as long as their grounded from a firm stance as to who I am and what makes me happy. Why should we hesitate about getting on together? It's all within our little windows of communication to share who we are with other people. Isn't that expressive? Shouldn't it be rewarding? But really, how come I cant cum on someone's tits because who really is the embarrassed one in that scenario? Do whatever makes you happy but please, lets be happy together.

from the Ontario College of Art & Design (University) publication, CadMium (in illegible font, the title that is).