{"id":160,"date":"2010-07-08T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-08T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=160"},"modified":"2015-07-20T00:47:50","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T00:47:50","slug":"the-city-of-tedium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=160","title":{"rendered":"THE CITY OF TEDIUM"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Lida Prypchan<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Ladies and gentlemen: I am an historian and, although I\u2019ve lived in Spain for over thirty years, I was born right here in this city. \u00a0Today, as we are celebrating its bicentennial, I have been invited to speak to you on this special occasion. \u00a0Let me assure you that I\u2019m known in my profession for being concise as well as eloquent, and have no tendency for making long, monotonous speeches that give the audience more to sweat about than to think about. \u00a0As I mentioned already, I was born in this city and, if you\u2019ll excuse me for being blunt, at the age of twenty-three experienced a dire need to get away from here. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Why did I have to get out? \u00a0I felt stifled by the sheer tedium and lack of concern in this city. \u00a0I never considered it home and never cared for it. \u00a0I had an affection for a mere handful of people who lived here: they were rare beings who appeared out of nowhere like phantoms without bearing in the midst of a somnolent population, which had no interests, no imagination, no progress, no joy, nothing new to say and nowhere new to go \u2013 not even any hostilities to at least provide a distraction. \u00a0It was a world full of conformists and indifferent beings that were not even aware of their depressing lethargy.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
In a dull and oppressive atmosphere such as this, quite inappropriate for a young person with a yen for life, it was inevitable that my yearnings should turn into despair and that I should become obsessed with the tempting idea of suicide. \u00a0Somehow or other I had to get clean away from this suffocating boredom! One of the human soul\u2019s seven deadly sins, I am convinced, is the desire not to do anything \u2013 and I only wish I could eradicate it! \u00a0Suffering would be a thousand times preferable to finding me face to face with my enemy, Tedium. \u00a0Once a person is afflicted with this, there\u2019s absolutely nothing more to be done, because everything, absolutely everything, seems dull and irrelevant. \u00a0At least when a person is in pain he has something with which to occupy himself \u2013 his suffering- and also a subject for later complaint. \u00a0I know very well you\u2019ll think my former problem was merely personal and not related to the environment. \u00a0You\u2019ll surely say, \u201cThings aren\u2019t boring, it\u2019s people who are boring.\u201d \u00a0And my reply is, \u201cthings aren\u2019t boring, things are worse than boring.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
In fact I\u2019ll give you an example: I remember a professor who used to like to lecture us on how to be a man or a good husband. \u00a0When he did that, I\u2019d yawn a thousand times a minute, because over the years\u2019 experience has taught me that a man who suffers from the verbal diarrhea of \u201cconjugitis\u201d often gets his kicks from slapping his beloved wife around when he gets back home at night. \u00a0So, what\u2019s the purpose of all his sermons on morals and good behavior?<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Well, to get back to the subject: at that time, this town was very set in its ways. \u00a0The inhabitants were in the habit of dressing up for the evening, or rather, taking off their daytime guise. \u00a0The only ones who didn\u2019t and there weren\u2019t many, were women married to cave men, who led them to believe they were still wearing their masks. \u00a0These poor women, in deference to boredom, dedicated their lives to frenzies of eating, and then to dieting on unsweetened grapefruit juice so they wouldn\u2019t get fat. \u00a0The babies, true to type, spent their childhood singing and screaming. \u00a0The teenagers, oddly enough, confined themselves to fighting with their elders and then blaming the generation gap. \u00a0Basically, everyone was seeking their own release from the humdrum existence of their daily lives, but the awful thing was that there was no remedy!<\/span><\/div>\n
As far as I can remember about the public services, the most imaginative contribution was that made by City Council. \u00a0As they were well aware that something had to be done to solve the problem of boredom, they created streets and avenues full of potholes so the citizenry could appreciate the rich subsoil. \u00a0Their cars ended up in the junk pile, but the experience was worthwhile because it provided a unique and quite sensational insight.<\/span><\/div>\n
This is why, ladies and gentlemen, I entitled this speech \u201cThe City of Tedium\u201d.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lida Prypchan \u00a0 Ladies and gentlemen: I am an historian and, although I\u2019ve lived in Spain for over thirty years, I was born right here in this city. \u00a0Today, as we are celebrating its bicentennial, I have been invited to speak to you on this special occasion. \u00a0Let me assure you that I\u2019m known … <\/p>\n

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