Comments on: Horse Fly Column, 5/03

By: John H. Farr

John H. Farr — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:50:55 +0000

What a very fine thing to say. I appreciate that very much.

By: Sherry

Sherry — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:42:59 +0000

Reading this column from 2003 and reading your posts these days I can see that the healing has begun!

By: John H. Farr

John H. Farr — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:11:30 +0000

What a great comment. Thank you. And I second your notion about a remote local on the coast… For all that I love the mountains, I still dearly miss the wild stretches of tidal river marsh and the Chesapeake Bay. I also miss the green grass I used to curse for having to cut, the many tall deciduous trees, and the smell of spring back East. I did myself a big hurt by burning my bridges like that, no matter how much it seemed I needed to. So the point is to pay attention to what one loves.

IN THE END, however, we don’t take any of it with us, and just like the dying words of the movie character you quote, “all these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.” That’s the catch! The cosmic catch-22! We don’t get to be a part of anything without giving ourselves to it, without having an emotional stake in it, without loving… and then when it dies or goes away, we hurt like hell. Can’t have one without the other.

By: Number 6

Number 6 — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:59:45 +0000

“The same kinds of things that reinforced others’ sense of who they were came gradually to smother me and frighten me to death.”
that’s exactly where i am now, still stuck for the forseeable future due to the whole situation you already know about. i remember this column from Back In The Day and just like then (but even moreso now) it makes me want to join you out there, and when i finally am free of my present circumstances i’d be seriously tempted… except i’d miss the ocean too much, which means i’ll have to look for some equivalently soul-scouring remote locale on the coast out here somewhere (if there’s any of that left by then in California).
“I could show you things you wouldn’t believe.”
since i just watched Blade Runner yet again a few nights ago, that last line instantly made me think of Roy Batty’s final speech as he’s dying, his 4 year replicant life span finally expired:
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe: attack ships on fire off the Shoulder of Orion… I’ve watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannheuser Gate. All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain…”