Just finished “My Life and Times” by James Thurber. It’s one of those books that deserves re-reading. The stories are amusing because of quirky, oddball characters creating or reacting to bizarre situations. Indeed, I have had a slew of quirky characters in my own life. Some of them were part of bizarre and unusual incidents.
Thurber’s characters were comical. Some of those I knew were amusing, though they did not mean to be so. Many of the oddballs were tragic in one way or another. Their quirkiness was part of a morass of bad choices, bad circumstances and bad luck. I look back and thank Wyrd and the Gods that I avoided all that. “But for the goodwill of the Gods....” Sadly, some of those individuals came to bad ends. Yet for the time I knew them, they made life interesting. I wish I could have gotten through to some of them, but there is no helping those who refuse to listen.
The characters in my life today are less quirky and not tragic. That in itself is a blessing. Yet to be fair, the quirky folks from the past provide inspiration for amusing tales of fiction (I am presently putting together some rather amusing science fiction stories.) The folks in my life today aren’t the kind of characters one might find in stories of nutty people and nutty activities.
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