girlsdontcry's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unicorns This is something that struck me when I first read it 12 years ago, and never forgot. It's from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. I know it's supposed to be telling us something interesting about perception, and it does that. But it always makes me think, when I walk around by myself, if I'm quiet enough, if I look carefully enough, if I'm special enough, I might just see a unicorn. "A man breaking his journey between one place and another at a third place of no name, character, population or significance, sees a unicorn cross his path and disappear. "That in itself is startling, but there are precedents for mystical encounters of various kinds, or to be less extreme, a choice of persuasions to put it down to fancy; until 'My God,' says a second man, 'I must be dreaming, I thought I saw a unicorn.' At which point, a dimension is added that makes the experience as alarming as it will ever be. "A third witness, you understand, adds no further dimension but only spreads it thinner, and a fourth thinner still, and the more witnesses there are the thinner it gets and the more reasonable it becomes until it is as thin as reality, the name we give to the common experience. 'Look, look,' recites the crowd. 'A horse with an arrow in its forehead It must have been mistaken for a deer.'" I really want to see a unicorn. .......... Here's my "Gosh, I guess my life really doesn't suck that badly" Thought For the Day. People are fleeing North Korea and seeking asylum in CHINA, because life is so much better there. 11:28 a.m. - 2002-09-05 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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