The world of should takes a lot of energy to inhabit. In comparison the world of is can seem like palatial comfort. To fully embody should you first have to build something to increase. When you have completed the simple task of finding the universal measure of good the shoulds can flow freely. This should that, that should this and schools should be doing more to encourage male ballet dancers etc. I had a particularly fruitful Friday yesterweek pondering a fine should over peas with a good claret. I forget the conclusion but it almost certainly included some reference to UK tax law. With chocolate and the mothers of tearaways to finish.
A friend from isville visited and left a particularly bad intellectual atmosphere in the air. She had no thoughts on the ideal proportion of pronouns in hypothetical prose and has never dramatically uttered the word herstory or hung an upside down map. Her name was almost certainly not Richard Dawkins. I should have invited him instead. Nevermind, my atheists tend to come less famous and more cheap with the wine they bring round. Nevertheless, it was a most successful evening of thought because as I was lying in bed afterwords looking confused I suddenly received a most brilliant idea. Where do these thoughts come from? It reminded me of the night I wrote An Ode To Impotent Men:
Was it the temperature?
Or was it the bankruptcy?
I think they must come from the bowel or the brain. Either way, the idea is to find the ultimate should.
Or just an excess of politeness?
You should have turned the iron off you fool!
The ultimate is would probably be some dreary formula or god or worse. Why bother look for it? It already is whether you find it or not. But could some should set all other shoulds rolling? The prime should could be something slight and easy such as dogs should be carried. At all times. Or something majorly inconvenient like the entire socio-political framework should be reformed according to Ayn Rand’s wildest imaginings. Either way I’d be interested to know it and should you have any possible candidates please let me know.
Oh the world of should does take patience and virtue and even brilliance, but persevere and you will find yourself in the land of the righteous. But more than that, it offers a deeper comfort; the soft maternal caress of self delusion.
Your humble master,
