Chapter 29

   GRADUATION DAY:  THOUGHTS AND CONCERNS ABOUT ALL I’VE LEARNED

Written By: Ralph Hawk

            Oh yes, whether they wish to admit it or not, teachers are learners as well. And the greatest lessons they learn are often taught them by the students they tutor.

            But the man whose face can’t be seen has lived a life apart from what those who fight for the limelight have said a normal life should be. And those who bask in all manners of light will never know of all his late nights – late nights not necessarily spent in communion, but hours of darkness which he spent in search of . . . And yes, he knows only you know what he’s sought. And he knows alienation and liberation are often closely aligned.

            But the next day, when the great light appeared in the heavens again, I think he slipped outside and exercised a right he shares with all humanity. He called upon that eternal force which exists primarily in that heaven, yet which, because its form is interpreted differently by various populaces, is also known to be with all of us as we journey on all earthly roads.

            And he asked that force eternal for peace – peace on earth, and peace within his mind. And he doesn’t need to know the absolute answers to all the everlasting questions. And most likely he already knows enough. He at least knows why his face remains hidden, and he knows as well why society covers the bodies of the people of secrets should they venture out unclothed.

            But he can imagine their pictures there – on the wall. And even there he sees that what should remain private remains hidden. And in that fashion he fashions passing thoughts. And he often makes notes from those passing thoughts; otherwise he fears that someday, down the road, when those thoughts could possibly be helpful, they won’t be remembered.

            And for fifty years I’ve lived now in this dimension of the earth. And since I’ve come here from another earthly reality, my body hasn’t physically aged here. But now the time has come for me to once again help certain residents of this reality as they attempt to graduate from a student to an artistic status.

And it was at the behest of superiors from other earthly realities that John, Rashon, and I began writing this book. And I think we told you early on that we didn’t have a definite plan or outline for what would be written here. And indeed it was only on the day that John, Rashon, and my other candidates for graduation from that classification of humanity known as the students of the highway began their quests toward that goal, which in the cases of John and Rashon of course coincided with the day they and I began writing this book, that all those candidates learned of the various requirements which students of the highway must fulfill if indeed they are to graduate into one of the artistic genres, or into the “status-quo.” And, in their attempts to satisfy those requirements, all the candidates often needed to commit actions which had previously been unplanned; and usually those unplanned actions occurred either because of poor anticipation, or selfish recklessness.

            And when I began my work on this project, I was told I’d have five candidates for possible graduation from the students of the highway. But as this book ends now, I find myself grading six instead. And oh, what trouble that newest candidate brought me and many others when she returned to this, her city of birth!

            And originally I had hoped that the initial five candidates and myself, or perhaps even Corzer’s French girlfriend Valerie would be in attendance at the graduation party we’re having here today. Well, the original five are here with me, but Valerie is at home in Paris, and the newest member of our class, Lauren Havess, is at my home under a sort of house arrest. And she’ll remain under that type of arrest until I can work out the details of her punishment for shooting Sharon Same.

            And I must tell you how glad I am that Corzer and Valerie have apparently reached a decision concerning their futures. Unfortunately I can’t tell you what that decision is. Corzer wants to relate their (his and Valerie’s) entire story in a separate book. But I don’t know if only his side of that affair should be told. That seems unfair to Valerie. Nonetheless, for now, suffice it to say that I’ve changed Corzer’s final grade in this class from a C to a B, simply based upon the fact that he and Valerie are evidently finally ready to face the future as a couple, or as individuals.

            But at this graduation party today, the joy that has been won by at least four of the candidates in this class has been tempered greatly by the recent actions of Lauren Havess. And it’s she and her problems which are dominating the conversation here today.

            Thus, rather than report much about the goings on at this party, I’ve decided instead to close out my requirement for a graduation party chapter with some philosophical musings. And Rashon and John have informed me that in the next two chapters they also intend to express certain “truths” they’ve learned as a result of their studies in this course. And, like this current chapter, theirs also shall appear under the heading of “Graduation Day,” simply because that was one of the stipulations we were required to follow in the completion of this book. And, as I alluded to earlier, I’m required to disclose my final grades for the six candidates who ended up under my tutelage as we performed the physical actions, and wrote the truthful words whose commission and writing were necessary for this book to become an actual composition. And I’ll do that after John’s and Rashon’s “Graduation Day” chapters have been posted. And now, with that said, I hope you can enjoy the somewhat random thoughts which hereafter you’ll encounter in this, and apparently also in the next two chapters.

            I can’t help but think that all humans wish to live well. But maybe some of them believe they must exercise some amount of control over others so that their own desires for what they consider to be a well-lived life can be realized. And, I’m sure what’s the very opposite of that point of view is believed by many as well. And no doubt several other possible outlooks on life, which lie in between those two extremes, are held by substantial portions of mankind also.

            And thus, amongst all those differing opinions and outlooks, lie the perils confronted by those who for one reason or another are attempting to make some sense, and probably more importantly, some order out of all the various styles of life employed by mortals as they journey upon the roads of temporal existence. And rest assured, often it’s difficult to even decide which modes of conduct are to be encouraged, and vice versa. And, can you imagine how far one’s mind must have contracted and expanded, and how convoluted one’s sense of judgement must have become, when one can no longer absolutely discern what society affirms as correct from what it rejects as wrong?

            And when indecision concerning the most basic elements of human nature creeps into one’s psyche, and becomes a part of one, then that one is left in the grasp of various isms, with existentialism probably being the greatest of those. And then, if one remembers that one once had figurative skeletons hanging in figurative closets, then that one can easily imagine that they’re hanging there still. And I think our real emotions are usually shown on days when, for some reason or reasons, our minds are especially capable of processing images of clarity. And for me, those are usually melancholy days when I can correctly visualize elapsed years; and when I can still my fears. And, it’s been my recently discovered realization that society wishes us not to say what’s already been said too often.

            And when I asked if I could rewrite what’s already been written, the life controllers told me that doing so might distinguish me as a preferred target of Lucifer. Oh, and I told those controllers then, “Don’t ever attempt, by any means, to lessen the fate of Lucifer! To be forever banished from all he was once destined to become, because he broke the iron-clad rules of eternity; that’s the fate that’s befallen the master of darkness.”

            But you know, I think there’s also been a secondary denunciation of us and our efforts. The so-called “common man” has come along to point out our misdeeds. And he’s also reviled us for breaking the rules of conformity and civility.

            But on days when the sun was shining, it was so easy then to drive in the sunshine – where society said drivers belonged. Yet, even then those drivers often wondered if it might not have been challenging, or at least exciting to chart a course in violation of all they’d been told. Still, they never really did so until one day in winter when ill-advisedly, but most likely necessarily they needed to venture out on to the pathways of creativity with their minds in artistic chaos. And indeed they then slid off the pavement of conformity and found themselves situated in the ditch of uninhibited individual choice; that is, they then were finally liberated from the constraints of the highway, only to be restrained then by the boundaries of their own imagination as they attempted then to maneuver their symbolic means of transport back upon society’s and conformity’s roadway. And perhaps they thought then that commandeering that means of transport in the direction opposite of the one in which they’d been told to journey, hadn’t been a good idea.

            Still, perhaps this time they vowed that they’d drive as they pleased. And maybe they even said they’d again break the rules of the highway if they felt like doing so. Yet, they said they’d be careful. And they said they didn’t wish to crash, become injured, or perhaps even die accidentally. And they affirmed a wish not to cause apprehension amongst those who police the roadways of life – those who are almost always gallant and to be praised and respected. But yet, those drivers also wished this fact to be stressed:  Like officials in professional sporting events, the controllers of the roadways are also “in play” so to speak. And what does that mean? It means that while on the playing field, or roadway, should any official come into contact with any driver, or with any means of transport used by any driver, or with any player, or with any ball or other device used by any player, such contact would then need to be contended with by those drivers on those highways, as well as by those players on those fields of sport, and, as concerns such officials and/or controllers, they’ll always be said to be blameless for any contact they may make.

            But, I’ve rambled on here somewhat in this particular chapter. And I’ve tried to show what might befall our recent graduates from the students of the highway, now that most of them are students of life’s roadways no longer. And I think I’ve documented that a large portion of what shall befall them in the years to come will befall them in their own minds. In other words, they’ll have to decide what’s really right and really wrong, and which deeds should be done, and which left undone.

            And earlier in this piece I mentioned the phenomenon of my mind perhaps working somewhat more clearly on melancholy days. Well, today is such a day. And you know it’s hard to say goodbye to friends you’ve come to know. And that scenario plays out often on the last day of school. Still, in this certain case, I’ll continue on a regular basis to see all (except one) those who’ve recently studied under my guidance. Yes, I’ll be seeing them around town just as I always have, except that from now on I’ll see them as artists rather than students. But one of them won’t be around here much longer.

            And so, this is the day I dispense the final grades, and recommend what action should be taken concerning each student, i.e. should that student advance from the student genre into one of the artistic genres, or should he or she be granted entrance into the “status-quo,” or should he or she be retained within the students of the highway. But I’ll disclose those grades and recommendations in the chapter which shall follow the next two. For now I’d like to say a few more words concerning myself and all I’ve done over the years. And as I’m sure you know by now, I wasn’t born in this reality of the Earth. I was sent here over fifty years ago. And as I’ve said in these pages before, since I’ve been in the Earth One reality, my body has not physically aged.

            And for the first twenty years that I spent in the Earth One reality, I journeyed about from place to place. But I’ve now been in this particular city for thirty years. And under my leadership this city has developed into a test site of sorts; that is, otherworldly and other-reality leaders now “use” this city and its residents as research subjects in conjunction with whatever they feel needs to be researched. And those research projects of course concern basically how all the various realities of Earth interplay and interact with one another, even though most often such interplay and interaction isn’t even known to be taking place by those committing it.

            Yes, and it was a long time ago, and within a different reality of the Earth that I graduated from the genre of students of the highway into the genre of true artists. And since then my unswerving focus of life has always been the helping of my fellow mortals, as well as the continual attempt to discover why certain members of mankind’s family apparently need to live in the past, while they simultaneously seek to minimalize all that has ever occurred, and all that still continues to occur in human life upon this planet. And thus, as I end this chapter, let me remind you that all of you are in my prayers. And as I said earlier, the next time I appear as a writer in these pages, I’ll do so to disclose my final grades and recommendations for the six people who’ve been enrolled as my students recently.