I think about reflection, and Oscar Wilde pops into my intuitive fishing net. He brings his Dorians Grey for discussion – the beautiful ageless public face and the ever more twisted and toxic one hidden in the attic.
Oscar the bon vivant who hides a keenly perceptive heart behind his great wit – he’s good company when I’ve just come through a wicked-hard tunnel of work and surface to breathe in an hour without deadlines, rehearsals, concerts or commitments.
We talk about navigating the treacherous waters of high society, while still maintaining the even keel of integrity. We share stories of being maneuvered to help a cause in the name of great friendship then later discovering to our great embarrassment that we’d simply been used. Is it the cause, then, that reaps the value invested? We suppose so together, and sip dry dry wine richly laced with self-mockery. It is the most healing of all humours.
We see and reflect only on what we know, and are so often blind to the world beneath the surface. If water is a universal solvent then it is also a solution of which we are all an integral part.
Value comes in different currency for everyone, but I would wish for this world that we could value one another, and ourselves, more than we do.