What's a human?

Imagine there's this rat in a maze. Only it's not a typical maze. When the rat begins his quest for the cheese, there's a straight line between him and the cheese. He could walk straight to it. But he doesn't do it. He goes into the maze and through its corridors. Now maybe he doesn't believe that's really cheese up there. Maybe he wants to take the long way around just to make sure there's no better cheese in the catacombs. Maybe he's just too stupid to notice. But it's there within view.

The walls of this maze are glass, so he can see the cheese at all times. And at all times, there's a path straight from wherever he is right to the cheese. There are even other rats with cheese on their breaths telling the rat to go up and get it. He won't listen. It's part mistrust, part ego, part optimism, part a lot of things. But he believes his cheese is to be found elsewhere in the maze.

The time he takes to run around the maze in a futile effort to find something that isn't there hardens him. The quest becomes more important than the goal. He can't allow himself to realize that or the futility of his story will be too embarassing and perhaps too much to bear.

Maybe he'll die without ever getting that cheese. Maybe he'll eventually wise up and take what he always knew was there. Because there isn't another piece of cheese in this maze. There's just the one. It's not a particularly tantalizing or mouth-watering piece of cheese but it's the only game in town. The looking was admirable, but he'd be well served to throw in the towel and see the cheese for what it is.

Rats don't have to be particularly smart or particularly dumb to find it. They don't have to run down every path in the maze they come across just to see what's there. They don't have to use every ounce of their guile to figure out where it's hidden and drive themselves mad in the process. They just have to follow their nose.

They might disagree, but they still go hungry while others are full. That's their choice and their right. What does it matter? There's nothing wrong with living their lives in the maze, but it ain't necessary. All they seek is in plain view.

(This is it. This is all there is. You have to remember this. This is all there is. -- Tindersticks)

Johnny Cash bit the dust this week, as I'm sure you all know. I really liked some of his stuff, although I like some of the music he influenced even more. As a tribute to him, StormClad Radio this week will be stocked full of his stuff as well as other country bands that have some of The Darkness™ in them. I'm still in the process of uploading at the moment, but it'll be up in a few...