*image by Ben Harubin

 

Look At The End--
And If That Doesn't Do It, Look At The Beginning.

As per one certain myth (which even by myth standards is obscure) there was once a band of
Explorers who vigorously sought a reputed "hidden kingdom" right here on Earth, and
after making all efforts that seemed possible andpromising pertinent the search and still not succeeding, they then supposedly, after extraordinary reconsideration, from top to bottom, of their basic assumptions
regarding such matters as goals, present locations, distances between the two, time's pertinence thereto, and the very nature of the effort itself, and upon emerging from this self-inflicted mental and verbal bloodletting and cleansing baptism turned their expeditionary attention in a totally new direction,
one in fact so nonstandard and unforseen as to elude description, and thus preclude an oral conclusion
to the tale.

(But nonetheless, I tell you privately that indeed their efforts did continue, and in a totally reinvigorated and profitable direction. Should not the fact that the story itself proclaims the impossibility of a tellableending give an indication of what direction may have been taken to produce this situation? Of what good, to a few, is a map that makes sense?)

Yet Another Conversation:
"We carry around with us a most heavy burden."
"The unique burden of being human?"
"Naw, the burden of us believing that we are what we think."

Note:
Only man and approximately seven other creatures take the notion of uniqueness as
an acceptable justification for suffering or other major forms of inconvenience.

Long ago did the Hormel brothers learn that, if cows believed they were part of a collective
bovid sponsored tour group, the (shall we say) less resistance they were inclined to present
as they approached that fair city on Lake Michigan's shore.

A father once said to a son, "A man can learn from all creatures."
To which the boy replied, "I ain't taking no lessons from no cows, and that's that."
And the elder could only smile to himself (somewhat grimacingly) as he pictured
all that the lad still had to learn (assuming that he did ever do so...but alas [cluck]
you know how youngsters can be).

Query:
Why is man the only creature to have developed the concept of "taste"?

Reply:
Because only he has a brain with a verbal area, which has no taste,
so he invented the idea to make up for the lack.

"Thank you so much for clearing this up for me."
"No problem."

Now on to Geography:
The trains depart from Miami, but are announced so from Manhattan.