Recollections May Vary
At the moment in the UK there is some drama about what Charles may or may not have said on hearing about the death of Diana.
“Mummy he called me names..” is something which may be said around the toddler sand pit. The behaviour asks you to judge somebody else about what they may have said.
If anyone goes through a messy divorce with public love affairs in the aftermath it is likely that they would have mixed emotions and feelings. It is not uncommon in divorce for either or both parties to wish the other ill. Post divorce vengeance is not rare. The ripples of divorce fall out can extend into wider family and children. Sides can be taken and grudges long held.
Charles is expected to be saintly and like a Bodhisattva in his compassion for his former wife. He is not allowed to be real.
It is in this case dragging up the past. Something which was interred is brought again to the fore and the public gaze. There is a buck in it.
Things hidden or swept under the carpet can be lumpy for the new robotic vacuum cleaners.
Like Ricki Tarr they may point out that there is more to the story than meets the eye. The Nietzschean truth by power held may lack credibility. Sometimes a new reality and a new narration is needed. Not everyone likes a messenger upsetting the apple-cart.
By the ghost of Christmas Past we can get haunted anew.
I like stories and books where the whole established and accepted public narrative is turned on its head.
Recollections can and indeed do vary. I have had someone say to my face that they knew me personally well as a start-up founder without knowing who I was. They recalled to me a recollection of events which were distinctly at odds with my own recollection. They certainly did not recognise me despite claiming to be a pal. I was only a foot or so away.
It is fair to say by the Chinese whispers phenomenon and the desire to self present well, things get made up and exaggerated. We all need a villain and perhaps that is me. You can blame me. It is easy to point a finger at an empty chair. People bullshit.
Internal consistency of one held narrative may not survive in the light of a differing narrative. There has been no test, should one come along things might change.
People can mistake a narrative (often political in nature) as truth. But truth in this context has a context which is socio-political. Some people are obsessed about being “right” and having the dominant narrative. If they are not “right” it can boil their piss. They may not sleep well.
They will probably reincarnate as a donkey who gets to work on Santorini…
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Do you like to be right?
If so, why?
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