Thursday, May 20, 2010

"When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." - Nietzsche

My experience in Italy reorganized me in a small, but fundamental way. Having looked into so many beautiful people and them into me it's hard, now that I'm home, not to avert my eyes. Kindness is harder to find on the street if you find it at all.

One month later and Venice has remained virtually unchanged - the drunks perpetually drunk, sober, drunk and sober, everyone doing slightly altered variations of exactly what they were doing before. It's only from the outside that you notice it's lack of motion. The drama that feeds this area, and keeps its bars full, gives the greatest illusion of change. I suspect several generations of beach bums (and I'm not talking homeless people) will come and go here none the wiser. 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

If Nietzsche were alive (and having a drink at the Whaler) he would probably say that you remain unchanged, hence the reason the world seems so to you. I suggest you break this cycle and go buy yourself a new outfit :)

Patrick Smith said...

Keep looking into the abyss and have a friend close by while you're doing it.