Aftertaste – Untouchable

mood : content


*(faint spoilers)

Truthfully uttered, I’d rather cradle myself in something closer to Wodehouse or Malcolm Bradbury (the other whiz) these days; if I have to touch on something a bit melancholically realistic, I’d go with Ishiguro or the like – something less stark.
But Untouchable has to be read, and it’s done.
And…it’s a ride. I’m not let down.
The evaluation between the pile and the things that make up the pile. Of course it’s easy to see a pile as a pile, rather than as one, two, three objects piled together making up one pile. And that’s where people lose track of what they should do. They take care of the pile, but the individuals remain – only scattered.
The generalisation of people into communities. Sometimes we forget that each man has parents, a brother or sister, a heart. And hearts, I’m sure, can’t be put away in a melting pot to be scrutinised so that one may determine what’s missing. That must be the peak of arrogance – to think that one knows what a heart needs.
I find the man with the hockey stick to be kinder than people who write up speeches and plan to do away with untouchability. Pride works in the strangest way. I don’t remember who mentioned this to me, that all men are selfish, that even in the very act of aiding someone, the self always makes up a part of the motive.
I wonder if you feel it? That feeling of superiority – however misplaced. Of course you feel guilty afterwards if you’re one of those who don’t let go of things very easily, but the feeling is there – that you’re able to help, you know something they don’t, you can do something they cannot.
The thing with the man with the hockey stick is humanity.
There’s an episode with Oscar Wilde and Ross when Oscar was marched off to prison. Ross was amongst the crowd – the crowd who spat and cursed – watching Oscar being taken away; Ross took off his hat and gave Oscar a brief nod. There then, if you happen to speculate on what humanity is – or in its basic form, kindness.