Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Don't look now, but ...

... the light you see at the end of this tunnel is a train. And, unlike the movies where the panicked people dash into an unlocked service access door at the last second, we have no place to run. We have no place to hide. The train's picking up speed, and on Friday at 6:00 pm it's going to be where we're standing right now.

I've sat down to write something here a couple of times since my last post but I haven't published what I wrote because it was too depressing. You nice folks don't deserve to be exposed to my toxic thoughts right now. Believe me, they're not pretty. Or safe, for that matter, for consumption by the average blog reader.

So, rather than terrify you with a glimpse into my psyche, I'll offer a poem by Yeats that feels something like it.

"The Second Coming"

Turning and turning in the widening gyre,
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey GP, just wanted to let you know that it could be worse; ill be in London when the results are posted, so I have to stay awake until 2 am local time to get them!

Seriously, hang in there. That light at the end of the tunnel may be a train, but Ill bet its a train made of candy and happiness.

Anonymous said...

I went through this crap twice and it just shouldn't be this way!
That said, I am looking forward to congratulating you.

Anonymous said...

Dear Grand Poobah,
Everyone is rooting for you. You have been so kind with your time in posting the essay questions and your analysis so fast. All of us have benefitted from your generosity. I really look forward to and enjoy reading your posts. You appear to be a kind and intelligent man - who deserves all the best.

If you don't pass, we are all doomed.

I, too, look forward to congratulating you soon.

Can you please post that you have passed here, so that all of us that are rooting for you can celebrate.

Even if some of us don't pass, at least we will be happy and comforted with the news that our dear fellow bar candidate has passed that has been a great inspiration to many of us.

Sincerely,
Di

Anonymous said...

All,

I failed my first time, and passed the second. It doesnt matter what anyone thinks, as they have no idea what you went through. Pass or fail, it takes so much personal strength and courage to prepare for, and to walk into that exam. Unfortunately, this is the ONE example in life where the destination is indeed more important than the journey.

A quote by Teddy Roosevelt kept me inspired and gave me courage on the days before the results came out...

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

good luck everyone!

Anonymous said...

first let me say I love the first guys train with candy comment.. and the last quote is great.. i will keep it close to my heart in the coming days.

i too am on this journey for the 2nd time.. and I must say there are not a lot of bloggers for july 08 as repeaters.. i've checked your blog so many times.. in the last year or so.. in prep for the 1st till now..

thank you for sharing your journey and in the meantime inspiring us all.

i hope you continue blogging after you find out the good news..

ashley