I’m going through a major cleaning purge this weekend – it’s almost scary – and I came across this teeny notebook my aunt Regina gave me when I was in high school – a blank book. It apepars that I used it mostly for writing down my dreams but in the middle of it, I came across this transcription of an old Steve Martin skit that Mere and I loved so much that apparently we had memorized it. I can hear<\/i> Steve Martin’s voice here – he plays Socrates.<\/p>\n
JUNE 13
\nMere and I can recite this entire thing word for word. It’s Steve Martin.<\/p>\n
Plato runs in.
\n“Okay, Socrates! Here’s your hemlock!”<\/p>\n
“Ah, thank you.” (gulps it down) “So! What’s the verdict? When do I get out of here?”<\/p>\n
“But Socrates, the verdict was death!”<\/p>\n
“Death<\/u>? You’ve got to be kidding<\/u> me! For what?”<\/p>\n
“For teaching the youth wisdom.”<\/p>\n
“Well, I’ll take it all back! Call them in here! I’ll renounce everything! Let’s get out of here. Let’s go get some Chinese food.”<\/p>\n
“But Socrates! You drank the hemlock!”<\/p>\n
“So what?”<\/p>\n
“It’s poisonous.”<\/p>\n
…………….. “It is<\/u>? Since when?”<\/p>\n
“Didn’t you know that hemlock is poisonous?”<\/p>\n
“I do now<\/u>. Look, I only know general things. What is truth, what is justice. I never learned details<\/u> like what is poisonous and what is not poisonous … That’s the kind of thing that irritates me about you guys.” (shoves Plato. Sighs.) “All right. I’m going to die. So what? When’s this stuff take effect? 2, 3 years?”<\/p>\n
“2, 3 minutes.”<\/p>\n
………………………….<\/p>\n
Socrates: “What a busy day this was. All right. I’m gonna lay here and I’m going to die – and you know what’s going to happen? You guys are gonna go out and you’re gonna have lunch and you’re gonna sit and stare<\/u> at each other. I was the only one in this whole group who ever said anything. It was always, ‘Socrates, what is truth?’ ‘Socrates, what is the nature of the good?’ ‘Socrates, what should I order?’ ‘Socrates, what are you having?’ And not ONCE did anyone ever<\/u> say, ‘Socrates, hemlock is poisonous.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m going through a major cleaning purge this weekend – it’s almost scary – and I came across this teeny notebook my aunt Regina gave me when I was in high school – a blank book. It apepars that I … Continue reading