Installing Cable May Be a Huge Mistake

This happened when I was getting my cable tv box installed. I wrote it the moment after he left, so I think I got his words faithfully recorded. Of course, there is always a bit of a filter when it comes to writing or photographing that skews the memory of something - filters it. But nonetheless, the upshot of this 20 or so minutes may be the opposite of what he intended: I want to get more things installed. If only for the conversation.

"I have something to say. I don’t know why I want to say it, but I do" he said.

"I would like to hear what you have to say" I said.

“If you want to ask me, there is time, and there are moments.”

“Ah.”

“A moment is different from time. Time is measured in maps, and clocks. Moments are very different. You can’t measure them. A real moment is when …”

He stopped to glance at the tv and fiddle with the remote control.

“You are walking through a park,”

He stretched the image across the screen, a Li’l Rascals-style adventure show. Four kids who mess with gangsters and gleefully make their escape.

“With a friend, a trust worthy friend. And it begins to rain. And you feel the water on your face.”

He turned and thoughtfully placed his index finger on his pliers in the belt. I thought he was indicating them for a reason, but I suspect that it’s his philosophy pose.

“And your loved one has passed on,” he continued, “and you remember walking through the park and feeling the wetness on your face and your hair. And you smile. That is a moment.”

“Tv can’t do that for you. Sit sit sit and absorb what other people are doing. So all I can say is…is that.”

“You’re a philosopher!” It came out of my delight even before I could caution it to stay.

“I did a bit of that. A long time ago, before I moved here.”

His tone was neither wistful nor resentful as he pronounced those final words. He was stating fact – he was a philosopher, now he was gathering his cables together.

“All I can say is, tv can’t offer your what a park can. If it rains on tv, you miss the feeling entirely. All I can say is, don’t offer Rogers your money.”

And he shook my hand with a sober little smile, and took his leave.