I am very hopeful for this new theatre company I am trying to put together. The people involved want to do quite a bit with it--beyond murder mysteries, they want to book standup comics, cabaret performers, and also produce full-length plays. They are also open to a children's theatre arm as well. I'm sure it'll crash and burn like every other opportunity for advancement I've had in the last ten years but hey, it's fun during the honeymoon period when all things are possible. Please pardon my cynicism. I'm just working too hard for no money. It's been suggested that I join the union. Then I can skip the working too hard and stick with the no money. I guess that's progress.
I guess what's really bugging me is twofold. First, I heard a story today about a federal census worker who was killed in Lexington, KY. Apparently he was found duct taped to a tree and asphyxiated. He was naked, his hands and feet were bound with duct tape, his census taker ID was taped to him, and the word "Fed" was written across his chest. Law enforcement authorities have yet to determine if this was a homicide or suicide or accident. Proving that the South really is stupid. And dangerous. Apparently, in this particular part of KY, there is a strong distrustful feeling toward the federal government, in part because in the section where this happened, there is a lot of moonshine and drug trafficking. (Yes, I'm not making up the moonshine thing. Apparently, they still fear the "revenooers") Also, they like to make meth up in that part of the country. It isn't known if maybe he stumbled into something he shouldn't have seen, or whether someone took his asking questions for the census to be a cover for attempting to push a progressive socialist agenda. Either way, he ended up dead. And the cops can't decide if it was murder. Really? I can see not wanting to release what you know about the scene to the press, or being reticent to suggest a motive. But you haven't decided if it was homicide or not? There's a QUESTION? I guess he could've duct taped himself to the tree, then written on his chest (upside down and backward), bound his feet, taped his ID card to his neck, wrapped whatever he used to strangle himself with around his neck, and right before he lost consciousness bound his wrists and welcomed the sweet release of death because he had lost his passion for census taking. But somehow, I doubt it.
And what of the people who did this? I can't even begin to imagine what was going through their heads, because I can't imgine what about the census would make one so paranoid or angry that murder would be their only recourse. "That feller asked me how many people live in my house, and I can't abide 'rithmetic. It's the tool of the devil. I guess it's time for a ritual tapin'." I was amazed by this until I actually looked through the book, "1001 things to Do with Duct Tape" and found that #997 was actually "Asphyxiate a nosy census worker up against a tree. (Kentucky Residents Only)" It was then followed by a definition of the word "asphyxiate" for the aforesaid residents. I want to make clear that I am not a proponent of the death penalty. The whole concept of using an act to punish that same act is illogical and stupid. Plus, it doesn't serve as a deterrent. People who PLAN murders do so convinced that they will escape detection, and therefore the punishment for being caught is not a worry. And people who murder in the heat of passion or due to some mental deficiency are not thinking straight to begin with, so consequences don't figure into their thought process. So all in all, the death penalty is less about justice and less about deterrence than it is about revenge. And I think that's just plain ridiculous. But, when i think of the kind of person it takes to think that someone working for the census bureau deserves the kind of death this man went through, then I want to take th group of them and get rid of them all. Not as revenge, not as justice, not as a deterrent to others. I want to do it to cut out a cancer. To remove a disease from society. Because I guarantee you, those people are the type that breed like rabbits, and they are more than willing to pass their dangerous stupidity and paranoia on to the next generation. So a small part of me would like to find a large hole, drop them all into it, and cover it up. Cut out the sick part and let the body heal.
But I can't get behind that idea completely, and part of that is due to the other reason I'm a bit melancholy. It was Jim Henson's birthday yesterday. He would've been 73 years old. This may not mean much to those of you gentle readers who were not alive at the same time as Mr. Henson, or at least not at an age that really could grasp who he was. But I remember when i heard he had died. I have lost both my maternal grandparents. I have lost a friend I went to high school with shortly after graduation. I shed no tears when those happened. I wept when i heard Jim Henson had died. I was a regular watcher of Sesame Street until I graduated college. I watched the Muppet Show growing up. I remember the awe i felt when i saw "The Muppet Movie" for the first time in a theater and saw Kermit riding a bike. They were amazing they were incredible. They taught me all the important things I needed to know, and they made me laugh. They also made me cry. I dare anyone to watch the Sesame Street episode dealing with Mr. Hooper's death and not cry like a baby as Big Bird learns what death really means. The Muppets were more than puppets with silly voices. They were fully-realized characters who it was impossible not to be charmed by. We recognized them as people that we meet when we're walking down the street. They're the people that we meet each day. We recognized them as ourselves; the popularity of Elmo (who I have to admit to not being a huge fan of, but then, I am an adult and a lifelong Grover fan) is a direct relation to how accessible he is to children. They see themselves in him, and as he discovers things, so do they. He is them, he is their little brother, he is their best friend. Just as I was drawn to the characteristics I saw in Grover, and Kermit, and Oscar. ll of them had things about them we all recognize about ourselves. That's why Sesame Street is still the best kids show on TV 40 years after it started. And Henson's imagination was boundless. "Labyrinth" and "The Dark Crystal" are masterpieces. Perhaps not of cinema, but of imagination and creativity. I mean, a decade after I was amazed to see a Muppet ride a bike, I was doubly amazed to see one pee. And the characters in "Dark Crystal" scare the hell out of me now, and I'm 37. It's amazing what he accomplished. Jim Henson WAS my childhood. And he died of pneumonia. Quite possibly the silliest thing for an adult to die of. He died, and something changed. The Muppets still live on his legacy still lives on, and the quality of the product is still far surpassing the competition. But there's something missing. Jim Henson represented that childlike love and wonder about life. He by all accounts was a gentle man who loved what he did and had a great imagination and love of life. And when he died, that childlike wonder left. He was hugely successful yet didn't have to be a greedy cutthroat SOB to accomplish that. There isn't enough of that attitude in the world anymore. I always wanted to be like Jim Henson. I wanted to have that kind of job. Hell, when I first started acting, my big goal was to appear on Sesame Street just so I could talk to a Muppet. I want that kind of attitude to flourish i the world. So I cannot listen to the small part of me that wants to get rid of the people who did that to the census taker. There has to be a way for the attitude of loving life, of seeing yourself in the other people aroud you, of seeing things through a more innocent lens to make it in the world. We have to be able to see others as the people that we meet when we're walking down the street. They're the people that you meet each day....so be kind to them. Run up to them, yell HEEEEEEEEEEEY FROGGY BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! and slap them on the back. ASk them to join you in doing the Pigeon. And ask them if they'd like to see a frog ride a bike and a pig win a beauty pageant. If they do, then chances are you'll become friends. because no-one can stay mad around the Muppets.
No comments:
Post a Comment