Why Fiction Is Important

The other day John mentioned that a friend of his didn't have a TV and wouldn't read fiction "because it isn't real".

I've been faced with this before, but it's clear to me that this attitude boxes one in on what can be known and experienced. How gray life would be without imagination. How unknowable would life and experience be if only cold analysis and reporting feeds me. Perspective is virtually unreachable without fiction's ability to say, "here's what it might have been like".

And there's power in fiction. A story, well told, can make the unthinkable real and in some cases, turn away the unthinkable by setting it out with "if we keep on this way . . ."

And I think this is one example: Fallout from 'The Day After'. I remember it well.

Abraham Lincoln is, by legend, reported as telling Harriet Beecher Stowe, ""So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War!" Is it possible that this nearly forgotten TV movie may have caused a war NOT to have been started?

Thank you, Mr. Meyers.

There And Back Again

So, on Monday I arrive at the airport before 7:30 A.M. to discover that my 9:10 A.M. flight will now leave at 12:38 P.M.. Too short a time to leave and return, but a long wait nonetheless.

We arrive in Las Vegas 4 hours late and miss our first 2 meetings. The 3rd I get to with minutes to spare. Then I rush to another hotel to do 3 solid hours of prattling about our wonderful software. When it's over and after midnight by my clock, we go to dinner with the President, Publisher, and Sales guy from PC World at the Top of The World. Wonderful view, very late for poor Randy.

But we're in Vegas, so we have to spend at least some time in the Casino. I'm not much of a gambler (risk taker, yes, gambler, no), but I'd received a complete tutorial of the game "Let It Ride" from a friend. After 2 hours, I actually got up having gained $37.

Total day from getting up to back to bed: 23 hours.

After a few spent sleeping, more meetings then a flight back. Home around 11:30 P.M.

Back at the office at 8 A.M. to discover 85 real, non-spam items to deal with in my email inbox.

Sometimes, it would be nice to be needed just a little less.