The speech of the town and more

     On the quiet streets of a small town, sometimes news did spread quickly and often others discussed things that they learned with a determined and memorable pace that it usually became part of history. This was fine to most of the people of this town but there was one man who never really wished to be part of a historical time line of events and would not wish to be the chosen orator of historical data whether that be on a small local town scale or a very wide global scale. Many of the residents would ask this fellow questions on why he often wished to be kept out of the realm of history and his reasons for this stern and rather pervading stand.

         Tom, a quiet, average built man who was usually direct and concise with conversations, was in his mid-forties and was someone who seemed content but occasionally would appear to be capable of more. He would walk around the town and greet people rather informally and seemingly with a friendly approach, but would often close the encounter calmly but firmly when he was asked about his idea to be a person to be a part of history. He often expressed his desire to be separated from any ties to history, whether one of these would be close to his front door, or, more emphatically, related to circumstances that are going on, or have gone, out there in this vast world. Jack who was a well known sales clerk who usually felt he knew quite a bit about opinion and thought, would sometimes ask “Tom did you ever wonder about the vastness of history and how it would affect us or involve some of the citizens here in some way?” Most of the time Tom would change the subject and talk about his job as a recordkeeper where he stressed concrete parts of data that he had to record and summarize or his other hobbies, most involving an eerie and slow paced solitude. However every once in a while Tom would say rather firmly “Others have asked me questions and I see no reason to probe or become infatuated with history or its significance because it occurs rather monotonously, raises questions, offers no real ideas of living and then is a matter of past record that you really had no cause to question.” Only several times Tom offered his ideas on how he would communicate information of a historical nature, slightly humorously of course.

         Sometimes other people of this town or neighboring towns wondered about how Tom would act when he made statements such as this and how sometimes these declarations made one wonder how intricate and coherent they were or meant to be, however most knew that Tom had made these assertions with mostly a firm resistance and tenacious apathy to become involved with a part of history, rather than trying to be deviously intelligent or philosophical. However, Tom confided to a few of the neighbors that when he stated his position on the subject of being an involved part of history as it unfolds, he would feel rather that he did express himself rather too well or used words in a high level way than he was often used to doing. Once in a while a person would make comments about the way Tom pondered on his records of information and joked that maybe this would lead to becoming part of history whether Tom or anyone else realized it or not. Everyone would recall Tom’s thoughts on this historical subject as he would assert in a firm but somewhat friendly way “You would not want to catch me in a compromising position with any kind of history, and I have referenced this point many times but between us, sometimes I felt like in an ominous way, a little different than what I am used to feeling, or demonstrating, but I would not worry about that too much.” This was not an idea that others became preoccupied to ponder about, however when a resident such as Dave, a counselor, who often questioned emotions and logic, would comment on how sometimes people at certain times would often exhibit certain levels of felt knowledge beyond their appearance. This made the other townspeople contemplate their place in all this precocious thought and they wondered if Tom was a central point in giving historical information, they may not only have to enjoy the ride, but lay out the tracks. Tom would often travel back and forth from his job or from the town stores and appeared like he was a monotonous figure controlled by repetitive habits, but there was something more to all this that Tom would even admit, rather softly, in a closed space of course, where he often joked, would someday be quite larger.

         The residents of the town usually gathered for friendly discussions in certain places and would have fun in picnics or town fairs or other events and Tom would come but would sometimes appear to be preoccupied with other matters. As Tom would reflect “Here I am at another occasion and I seem to be doing pretty well but there was some issue on how I seem to be looking at the records I have been keeping lately. I am making a few more connections than I usually do and I realize this is a trait of mine, in these days it appears to have more of a historical context. I am not admitting that I wish to become part of history or be a communicator but I am having access to information from I my recordings that are a bit more than I am used to. Look at the people of this town. They all give the impression to wonder about history or contemplate their place in it and I am sure they are trying to ascertain why I don’t see this as a want of mine. Lately however I have been expressing my negative responses to historical context with a little more reservation and often they are followed by a period where I don’t exactly remember everything that I have been doing. Would it not be funny if I was under slight control by someone else or I have been chosen to put together a perspective of information based on what I can determine from what I have written. They would not believe it of course but these days I express my desire to remain out of the historical line a bit less and see beyond what I have written a bit more. That is this town for you. It makes you wonder about yourself. I will walk home and rest and then face another day, perhaps more vividly."

         A few of the townspeople now looked at Tom with a slightly different view. All the things Tom had felt were now known to others but they were in a slight disagreement on who had learned the most important of Tom’s ideas. A couple of residents heard Tom walking about some of his experiences in a coffee shop or a restaurant. A couple of others heard him talking near a school or a library and a few others heard these ideas in a park or a museum. They all believed that Tom was just playacting or telling them what they wanted to hear, but all agreed that this was something more believable of Tom’s curiosity of his own information and perspective on being more involved in a historic capacity and his occasional lack of ability to recall certain moments of his activity. The people would try to ask Tom questions solemnly and without intensity and Tom would reply with a certain type of defensive posture but also in a way that entice their interest. They remember a few of the discussions where Tom would say seriously but rather energetically “I have been a recordkeeper for a long time and I always seemed to know what I have written and where it came from and its meaning. However I look at a few of the lines I have written and several of the conclusions I have determined from them, and it seems that I am a focal point to deliver some type of speech about history that I can only ascertain from what is in front of me. I know you all think I am imaging this or an fabricating a story for attention or diversion but I assure you that I appear to know something about what may happen to us on a more global scale. A type of information directive to prepare and prevent some type of communication invasion. “

         Various residents now began to become attentive and listen with more sincerity and they tried to convince the other people that Tom was not just trying to entertain but he was more trying to educate. However, the people agreed that Tom may not know everything that was to happen or how to prevent it but there had been certain aversions to communication devices that most had believed was because of power shortages or mechanical mishaps. They knew that Tom had somehow become involved in a process whereby he would record certain data that he was exposed to during his job and then utilize his perspicacious, astute, but rather unusual and elusive senses to determine a viable conclusion. Tom had come to the town meeting where they shared this information to him, and then Tom replied “I had a feeling you were all going to say these things and this is not because I believe I am of advanced intelligence or have sharper senses than you, but for the fact that I have wanted to say the same things to you for some time and in the right way. It is just that you saved me the trouble of contemplating what to say and I am glad you know, almost as much as I do most of the time. This is a good thing since you all know I have had the pleasure and the anxiety of preparing a major speech that I must give. You are all a part of it and if it were not for your combination of support and suspicion, I might not have had the initiative, the enthusiasm, and the ability to create a speech, and then make my delivery. You all knew this day would come. You just didn’t know it.”

         Ann was one of the staff who worked in the educational system and she would comment on how Tom had both the insight and the patience to let us know things that we somehow knew first. Whether this was true or not did not seem to matter much now because Tom would now give a speech to millions on how he had somehow assembled information to prepare the country for a conquest that would not, at least at first, involve ammunition and destructive measures, but more along the lines of tampering with certain communication mediums for information that would, no doubt, be used against us in some way. Several of the other workers began to describe what they thought had been a slight change in Tom’s behavior and demeanor and his occasional lack of insight into how this was taking place but his pleasure at others noticing such a change. Barbara who worked near the educational facility as a health care worker would often comment “I often figured Tom would never want to become involved in anything historical and would not admit any change in his attitude or viewpoint regardless of anything that happened. I can see now that Tom, although reticent and somber, began to not only accept but look forward to what he was to do, and most of this was under his own control, and anything external to his will was something that he would relate with others and accept with all the professionalism of a noteworthy historical speaker. Tom would listen as the residents made their comments but would say a few words to let them know his day, and theirs would come. Then he continued walking, reminding himself that he may still basically be the same person with a few altering characteristics but now he had a much more important activity to immerse himself in.

         Tom got his information together and looked curiously and shook his head at his method of arranging and organizing his speech and the several moments where he had seemed to have lost track of time, and now he was to go to the main broadcast station, not in the town, but of the nation and tell what he knows in the best way that he knows how. He had looked at what he had written at this time and began to reflect on how he got to this point. Tom remembered several weeks ago the first time he began to notice something in his footage that caught his attention and the subsequent times where he would look upon his records and how he would communicate this to the other townspeople. Tom then began to wonder how the other people who usually would doubt or question Tom ideas of opinions began to see things as he did, and often this would engage Tom to take his ideas and connections more diligently and freely. Tom was now to make his speech and he realized that he was giving most of the town citizens some credit for his knowledge and insight as he reflected on how their inquisitiveness and reflective comments made him more perceptive and easier to reach, academically and socially.

A few of the town residents acclaimed that Tom always had that appearance that he could give a judicious and intelligent speech and then Tom would reply like he was both content and tense that they would know about this before he actually did. However, Tom then asserted that he often preferred this occurrence to the few times where he actually knew he was to give a most vital speech and how he would reveal this to others who he knew, looked at Tom with a somewhat modifying outlook on being a significant part of history that they somehow assisted in shaping.

Tom knew they the townspeople saw him both with his assurance of his position to remain out of any historical event, and his less- concealed approach that he would be ready, willing, and able, to stand up and give a speech that would become an intricate part of history. Tom accepted with gratification and a certain reserved formality both of these perspectives, and often reminded the residents that these attentive ways of looking at such things was the same type of process he had used to assess and summarize information which would be the basis of his speech. Then, slowly, but professionally, Tom stepped up to the podium, and began to speak and knew he would be both heard, and revered, not in a closed space, but on a global scale.