There is no proofreading while writing my columns. Sad, really, because there is no reading my columns while proofing them either. Madness, you say. Absolutely! It is mad. Crazy. Bonkers. Utter nonsense or is that udder nonsense? No. The latter sounds way too much like the mammary glands, especially ones that are relatively large and pendulous, with two or more teats as found on cows. But that is another story for another day. I’m sure of it.
Well, what do you expect at 1:01 a.m. Thursday? I do have to get up early to provide a modicum of assistance to some bright, dedicated people trying to keep a bit of the peace and quiet to the streets of Sunset Blvd. tomorrow afternoon. And if anybody can do it, they certainly can.They are the best. Nothing to get excited about. Routine for law enforcement.
And you know,when somebody makes a difficult job look easy, how we all have a tendency to say: “Oh, I could do that. Doesn’t look that tough.” Sports guys and girls do it. So do premium racehorses. Runners. Race-car drivers. Even actors. Directors. Writers. The really gifted ones do it. That make it look so easy because it is so hard. And by doing so, they take the rest of us with them for just a moment. They propel us, up and away, where if the truth be known, we have no business being. But for that split-second they take us along as their guest – to sights, sounds, smells…God-like places.
I’ve seen it before. We all have. The Michael Jordan’s. Sandy Koufax. Bob Dylan. Django Reinhardt, obviously the Bach’s, Beethoven’s and Stravinsky’s. There are many more. But I am embarrassed by my inability to have misspelled their names. How small. And yet so large.
Tomorrow, I will be able to work alongside these fine men and women. I will have the privilege, ever so slight as it might be, to watch as a student might. They keep us safe. And they make it look easy. Absolutely.
And what the hell: Don’t forget it’s 2:10 in the morning. Time for bed. At least for me. Way past my bedtime.
Steve Whitmore 