A Conversation Between Me and You

Dedicated to all those who wish not to read this.

 

 

Curtain opens. Me is standing center stage. You is facing me, also center stage. Me is bound to you by a long silver chain. This chain is also pinned down to the floor. There is a bookcase, behind ME, with many, many editions of unread encyclopedias sitting within. Behind you, are hundreds of beautifully arranged flowers: roses, daffodills, tulips, and all the rest of the flowers that I really don't know the names of.

_

Me:

You must give in and do what I want of you.

You:

What? Why?

Me:

Because I’m bored and lonely and wish for your understanding.

You:

What do you want of me?

Me:

I want you to follow me in whichever direction I take: be it right or wrong. Furthermore, I want you to reach to me spiritually and give me a reason to follow you. Essentially, I want connection. But only because I am bored and lonely and tired of talking to myself.

You:

I am not willing to just give you that kind of connection. That’s crazy talk.

Me:

Irrelevant. If you are not willing then I will make you willing.

You:

That sounds like force. Force will never bring you the connection that you seek.

Me:

What is force? Is force merely something that occurs with impatience? What if I just wait months, even years if I have to, until there is a time when I can better manipulate the course of your actions? Is there any way but force? The problem here isn’t force, it’s a battle of ego. But what makes your ego any more or less strong than mine? How do I prove which ego is more powerful? More unchanging? Here: let us battle our egos. I will end this conversation if you but give me a reason to.

You:

Just stop being such a freak. You are overcomplicating things. Just accept that everyone does things differently and that you can’t change people.

Me:

I can accept that for you, but then I will be alone. Also: I have desire. I value having desire and find it difficult to do otherwise. This leads to my suffering. If you tell me that I cannot change, then you have literally damned me to hell. Shall I just accept that as the way of things, or should I do something about it?

You:

You are too dramatic and unreasonable. These things you say can’t be true.

Me:

I will allow you to feel that way if you truly get to know me. Right now, you don’t. Only speak of knowledge that you have access to, and where in knowledge you lack, accept the claims of others. To not listen is to be certain of very little in this world.

You:

I still don’t believe you. I’m not damning you to hell.

Me:

You are removing possibility. You are destroying freedom. You are telling me that I am powerless. Telling me that I cannot be with you (which implies everyone), and in such damns me to bachelorhood. You are telling me that I am a fool.

You:

We just see things differently.

Me:

But that’s just it. EVERYONE sees things differently from me. If you were me, and felt this way, you would act the same.

You:

Fine, you are alone and miserable. But still, you cannot accept me to just give myself to you like that and expect it to be a real, legitimate thing.

Me:

You are right. You must find value in seeing things my way. The problem is, you were right before, too. Every path, every opinion and every belief is all equally valid. I have no way of changing your opinion, because it IS a matter of opinion. But the fact remains, I still seek to change you, for I cannot change TO you. I am at a point of no return, and therefore must bring you in.

 

 

(long pause)

You:

But then, what can I ever possibly have to offer you?

Me:

Beauty. Meaning. Substance. Love.

You:

But what do you have to offer me?

Me:

… Nothing. Knowledge of non-knowledge. Depression. Hard work. Challenge.

You:

Why would I possibly want that?

Me:

Because it is something you inevitably will have whether you like it or not. I, personally, have learned how to deal with it and can show you the way. I just don’t want be alone. Fortunately, if you joined me, you would never have to be.

 

Please, I ask of you, will you walk with me or from me? Please accept the former.

You:

…………

::::

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[BrightEyes]

actually - I found this intriguing - and felt drawn intot he conversation. The "me" in your piece has valid arguments to make and a point of view that resonates with a general truth. I seem to be the minority here however LOL. We don't have to "become" the you in order not to be alone though - it is more an acceptance that opinion is indeed opinion - everyone has one, and they are all different - perhaps because they are shaped in large part by the fabric of our lives - and no two lives are alike. Certainly gave me pause this evening - and sparked a few underused brain cells lol.

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

So ironic ... the image of being chained together; and yet, to feel as though I were chained to your words. From line to line, I followed, allowed myself to be lured by your meandering thoughts. You made me recall a certain pseudo-erotic-submissive thought which I wrote of years ago, about a man giving a woman what she didn't know she wanted.

I love the play on words and the image of the books behind you versus the flowers behind her, which, to me, symbolizes the intellectual versus the beauty.

Another profound write.

Keep shining!

[Oddpoet]

Well Exlax, just a suggestion. try to avoid the use of Me....You.... It sounds like you are a car mechanic explaining a costly break job to a client. me fix....you pay..... LOL perhaps that is your lot in life, maybe taking orders in a a grocery store, me take order, you ask.....LOL

Maybe I..thee... or some sort of third party who introduces the characters.

As for concept and content? When there is one I will certainly comment on it. Well, here is one thing and i quote "I just don't want be alone." personality i would have used the term "to" there but it is your gig.....Well Exlax keep on talking like a car mechanic and I fear you will always be alone.

Well, will give you an F for failure. Well that is also my failure for am I not your mentor!

oddpoet

[Hedra Helix]

Constance is smart.

This piece, above all else, is intriguing. Thank you for the read, most alive thing ive seen in awhile for all its challenges.

As far as critique I think a few (I'ms') instead of (I ams') would smooth it to my read. Things of that type, the speech of the You charcter might be set up as subtly different this way, for instance. Looser.


Moving on, this reminds me of a friend of mine as well, who though razor smart is not connected to his soul, the grace of a person. He struggles a lot.
Cos there aren't any constants when someone isn't willing to realize that life is growth. Cant expect someone to come and be what you need, cos you and that person will forever in each moment be growing anyway, everything is flux. Your opinion and perspective and morality and mood and situation will always change, always as will theirs.

If you like someone, the game is to play it together and stay together.

yoda moment.

[Constance]

My greatest friend, my soul-mate, has an old quote that he likes to live by. I can't remember the person he quoted, but here is the quote: "If I came back and was allowed to choose to be either pleasant or smart, I'd choose pleasant." I tend to remind him, always, that one really can be both, because being smart also means to realize the need to be pleasant. The trick is that one must be happy, really, to find the pleasant part of his or her self. With too much knowledge, this world becomes hard for one to remain happy in- so, sometimes, in order to be happy and pleasant, we have to forget what we know. Passion and love can certainly make us do just that. There was definitely a sense of truth behind that old saying and song "Only fools fall in love." The "Me " in your story needs a reason to forget he's so smart, that's all.
Nicely done. I could imagine how it would play out, as I read.