Escape from Reality

Some philosophical thoughts that have been invading my mind of late need to be expressed. I’ll do it in this format but they may appear again in verse or allegory when probed.

One of these is the phenomenon of looking at a field of flowers and then regarding individual plants or rows. I have a photo of a field of lavender in France and it has a high degree of resolution. When one focuses on the overall visual effect of the field of flowers, one sees a sea of lavender color, romantic/rustic shapes of rural buildings which could be houses or utility buildings in the background, further back are hills of brown and various earthy hues. It is a photo that begs an impressionist to paint; to take out the reality and leave the impression, the fantasy of perfection, the escape from dust and weeds.

When one focuses his gaze in on the foreground, he notices caliche soil, the rangy individual plants that are individually less than attractive. There are weeds, dead, gnarly branches, that exist at the sub floral level. Not that any of this is ugly but definitely not as romantically beautiful as the overall scene of a sea of lavender color. This aspect of it would not be in the impressionist’s picture. This effect, this eliding of detail, the deliberate ignorance of detail also exists in almost every scene that we see. It is a sort of escape from reality. This was emphatically made apparent to us by the impressionist painters where the focus was on the overall visual effect of the scene as opposed to photographic/scientific reality. It is an escape that we readily make from the real world.

Last night, I assisted with the dismantling and removal of the stage props that make up the set for our mystery-dinner play, Murder in Cairo, at the Hyatt-Regency hotel in downtown Louisville. The fact that the hotel is two-faced was impressed upon me as we moved from one side to the other. There is the public side and the service side.

The public side is full of glass and polished surfaces, the walls are stylishly covered in currently tasteful colors, floors are carpeted with patterned carpets and the whole effect bespeaks luxury and wealth. It is maintained to impress guests and swallow them up in the ambiance of their surroundings and induce a certain low-level euphoria making them feel that all is perfect in this little corner of the world and made so just for them.

The service side is familiar to those who work at the hotel, who are there, not for the escape from reality but to provide the escape to the patrons, those who pay for the care free perfection and freedom from reality for a short time. Those who provide same get paid to do so.

Surely, some are there just because it is the only job they could get but they stay there because there is a certain satisfaction that they feel; also perhaps because it is easier to come back to the hotel and be paid than to try to find another job. Others are there because they have the romantic notion that this is what they want to with a major part of their time.

This service-side is analogous to the close up of the lavender field. The service area is the antithesis of the public side. It smells of discarded food in garbage containers; the surfaces are scuffed, dented, scarred with careless movements of heavy carts, in need of paint and repair but not littered with trash. The people who work there are aware of the condition of their surroundings and accept them because they are engaged in work activities, service to those on the public side who are willing to pay for it.

The dividing line between the public and service sides is a veil that is more than facilities, it is also psychological. The servers have different attitudes depending on which side they are on. When they are facilitating the escape they are polite, friendly, unhurried, and solicitous but as soon as they pierce the veil they are hell-bent on whatever they need for their next appearance on the public side, they are purposeful and it comes across as mean and rude but it is better described as business-like.

The business of providing escape is huge. It is everywhere from the TV in your family room to the most luxurious cruise ship afloat and the path winds through the movie house, the play house, the banquet rooms, ballrooms, hotels, casinos, Disney World, Las Vegas, New York City, San Francisco, London, and Paris to name a few of the stops along the way. It is the product of Marketing, with a capital M, the fantasy of promise,which if delivered becomes a sustained business. If not delivered, or if delivered poorly it is viewed as a get rich quick scheme and a flash in the pan. The losers are those who pay for escape and don't get it. 

Telemarketers who deliver $2 worth of product for $19.95, but-wait-we’ll-double-it-if-you-call-right-now are the stars of the get rich quick game. They create the fantasy and set the hook in anywhere from one to twenty-four minutes. Once in a while they call to mind a real need but their effort is aimed at creating a perceived need and a sense of urgency to satisfy it. Marketers in general do this in magazines, on-line, in stores, in newspapers, on billboards, on radio, and TV, even in the guise of program content as on the David Letterman show. There are other media but these are a few that come to mind.

So in our day to day world we tend to buy into the fantasy of escape and are willing to pay for the opportunity to do so. The job, stage, playing field all tend to bring us back to reality when we are the worker, performer, or player. It’s good to work, perform, and play but an escape from time to time is refreshing, even for those who provide escape for others.

A Horse, of Course

I have it in mind to publish a post but I don’t have in mind what I want to express. I thought of the hierarchy diatribe but I did that last year at about this time. Then I thought about a lot of other things but can’t seem to settle on any one so I’m back to an old trick, i.e., start writing and see what comes out of the pipe.

The news is delivered on-line and on paper. Since I bought the roll around hospital table, put the laptop on it, and located it next to my seat at the kitchen table, I’ve got the news at my fingertips every day; even France2 television news where I can listen to what’s important to the French today. I have more fun with the on-line because there is the opportunity to comment. There are those who make a game/hobby/ diversion out of it and even argue with others who don’t subscribe to their thinking as expressed in their comments. There are even some who take umbrage at my comments, which are often made simply to get a rise out of the regulars. Some probably spend most of the day at the keyboard, commenting on comments made by others. Some of the “discussions” go on for days and there are several blocks of reply to quotes.

I am getting very close to buying a horse. I am particularly fond of Skippy, a horse I’ve been riding for a few months. He is somewhat young and inexperienced but willing and slowly getting into shape. Carola is upset with me because of this but I’ve told her, over and over, that this year is when I am going to get a horse of my own. Realistically, I only have a few more years of riding because sooner or later age, wear, and tear are going to take their toll on this body of mine. But I figure, if I can get five or six years more years of riding, I could conceivably get Skippy to the point of competing in events.

Let’s talk about this a little. The scenario would be to buy him from Carol and keep him at Mint Springs Stables. My status would change from rider to boarder; no more tack, or supplies from her. I need to ask her what the deal is for those who board their horses there. I want the facts of cost, what’s allowed and not, what approvals are necessary for using the facilities such as arena, jump field, jumps, wash rack, in which pasture he would be kept, and trailer rental.

Then, what about trailering? The horse would have to be trailer broken. I may have to get a vehicle capable of pulling a trailer. The incidental tack would not be a problem but I would need a winter blanket and a thick rubber pad for his withers. I wouldn’t want to do this on the cheap because when you pull into a show facility, there is an image that has to be maintained. Not that I want to make a big horse farm splash, but I want to be able to stand tall and be proud of my horse, my tack, and my rig.

There is no need to keep him at Mint Springs but I could continue to train him there as I am. I think it all depends on the deal. If she is willing to give and take on the use of the place and not be too picayune about what, where and when; then I would probably be as happy to stay there as move him.

The next thing is for what would I be using him? Cross-country, dressage, and stadium jumping is what I like to do the most including schooling at the Horse Park, or Masterson Station, after that trail riding in state and/or city parks, then competition but only on occasion to see how we stack up according to a judge. I may have to work with Carol to put her X-country course back into shape and that would be a major effort, requiring more than me working alone. But I see the remnants of a first class course.

This could get into a major time commitment, the riding, the training, the rebuilding, farm maintenance, and working to get the money together to maintain the horse. I think the monthly expenses would have to be earned or from economies from other activities but I would buy him and associated assets out of inheritance money.

This whole idea will have to be the subject of a planning project, starting with some creative thinking/ problem solving to get it all thought through. Probably the major thing is the question, why would I have a horse? The answer may well be that I would be better off without one. But then, why would I have a sailboat? Why would I have a business? Why would I build a house? Why would I get married? Why would I go to Europe, why would I do anything? The answer is always, because that’s what I want, that’s what I am driven to do. Most of what I have desired in life doesn’t stand the cold test of rational decision making. The sequence of events is, make the decision, and then figure out how to make it work. There is always that leap of faith that has to be made. One makes up his mind to do something and then do it.

The pattern seems to be romantic v. materialistic when it comes to devoting my time to an endeavor. When I think of devoting time and effort to “making money” I quickly lose interest in the process. It is a lot like design engineering, drudgery. The results were fun during the creative phase but then it became a matter of cranking out numbers. I think I’ve found my avenues: acting, pool, golf, and riding; the script, the cue, the club, the crop.