Lucky That It's Dark Now

Speaker: Old Man with Old Man Face in Old Man Voice

Audience: Tiny Stranger

Theme: Repetition

"Every morning I used to bike a mile-and-a-half to work. By November, it was dark at that time and disappearance of the sun combined with the repetition of the route taught me that anything takes on almost mythic qualities if performed enough times. That's the power of repetition. You bike down a street once and you'll never remember it. You bike down a street 50 times and you'll be able to watch yourself cruise through the dark as you're biking. It is made real. It becomes an observable part of your identity. Until, you do it so many times, hundreds of times, that it becomes mythology. The bike ride was there before you and it will remain long after. The fruit in your backpack has a voice and tells you things. The trees sway disapprovingly at your hustle and bustle. The road has all kinds of surfaces and textures with powerful emotions embedded. Some spots are silky smooth and you roll along with dull grace. Other patches make your teeth rattle and your guts rumble and you hate these sections. You curse the lazy resurfacing crew--bane of your cosmos. We are never without ritual. Repetition brings about all of thing.