For this #TheatricalThursdayI want you to tell me if I am Dada (rejecting reason for nonsense),
…Dodo (a term for an idiot, as in “dumb as a dodo bird”),
or … Didi (the Pollyanna from the play, Waiting for Godot)
This is a rather absurd conversation that I experienced Saturday after a round of golf with three friends. Yet with the exception of my comments, it is a conversation that I KNOW we have all had many times. This conversation represents the status quo and maybe it’s the Rosetta Stone for finally understanding Beckett’s masterpiece, Waiting for Godot.
SCENE: Four golfers, eating and drinking at the proverbial 19th hole. Three are MD’s and their ages are 47, 57, 60 and 71 years old.
First I will outline the skeleton of the conversation…
Then I will add the flesh…
Finally, I will attempt to generalize the meta-conversation or subtext
SKELETON without text or meaning
Me: (talks about bad news)
Friend to left: General glib statement
Friend to right: Agreement
Friend across: Agreement
Friend to right: Statement of general hopelessness
Friend to left: Gallows-laden agreement
Friend across: Agreement and example given
Friend to right: Quorum is reached.
Me: Blanket disagreement
Friend to right: Disqualifying statement
Me: Evidence
Friend to left: Disbelief
Friend across: look of disbelief and disgust
Final resolution: general discomfort and subject change
SKELETON with text
Me: (talks about bad news) “I can’t believe died of sudden heart attack last week. He was only 69″
Friend to left: General glib statement: “We all gotta go sometime”
Friend to right: Agreement “Yes”
Friend across: Agreement “That’s true”
Friend to right: Statement of general hopelessness: “There’s nothing you can do”
Friend to left: Gallows-laden agreement “I hope I die quickly”
Friend across: Agreement and example given “I agree. I would hate to linger”
Friend to right: Quorum is reached. “It’s better that he died rather than suffer”
Me: Blanket disagreement “I dunno. I don’t really think it’s hopeless. I see people getting healthier and younger”
Friend to right: Disqualifying statement “You’re a lot younger. You don’t get it”
Me: Evidence “I’ve been tracking many patients who are improving. My own circulation is like a triathlete and I don’t exercise.”
Friend to left: Disbelief “That’s incredible”
Friend across: look of disbelief and disgust (what is this guy trying to pull?)
Final resolution: general discomfort and subject change “So what about Brazil’s chances in the World Cup?”
SKELETON with text and meaning
Me: (talks about bad news) “I can’t believe he died of sudden heart attack last week. He was only 69″
It is sad that our friend died before he had to
Friend to left: General glib statement: “We all gotta go sometime”
Death is the ultimate truth of life
Friend to right: Agreement “Yes”
That is what I think
Friend across: Agreement “That’s true”
Me too
Friend to right: Statement of general hopelessness: “There’s nothing you can do”
I have tried to worry but I find it’s easier to just embrace hopelessness rather than live in constant fear
Friend to left: Gallows-laden agreement “I hope I die quickly”
I am afraid to lose my faculties and suffer
Friend across: Agreement and example given “I agree. I would hate to linger”
Not to mention being a burden to my loved ones!
Friend to right: Quorum is reached. “It’s better that he died rather than suffer”
I see no chance of recovery from serious illness and deterioration is inevitable
Me: Blanket disagreement “I dunno. I don’t really think it’s hopeless. I see people getting healthier and younger”
I think there is hope. My experience tells me people can improve
Friend to right: Disqualifying statement “You’re a lot younger. You don’t get it”
We shouldn’t take you seriously because you are probably farther from dying and it’s abstract to you
Me: Evidence “I’ve been tracking many patients who are improving. My own circulation is like a triathlete and I don’t exercise.”
I really have seen remarkable improvements to counter this hopelessness. I don’t deserve to be this healthy but I am objectively
Friend to left: Disbelief “That’s incredible”
Kinda sounds like bullshit
Friend across: look of disbelief and disgust (what is this guy trying to pull?)
(Is he gonna try to sell some magic pills?)
Final resolution: general discomfort and subject change “So what about Brazil’s chances in the World Cup?”
I’ve heard enough of this. Let’s talk about something real and less depressing
Our conversation reminded me of the Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play, “Waiting for Godot”. And in a strange bit of synchronicity, it helped me find a quote from one of my old webinars that I had forgotten. This author of this Shmoop.com article points out that my role in our Godot-like conversation was that of Vladimir, who like me, is obsessed with the Tree of Life:
Take a look at Vladimir’s line early in Act I, when he says, “Hope deferred maketh the something sick, who said that?” As we’ve mentioned, Vladimir is referring to the biblical proverb that goes a little something like this: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)
So I guess I am pleading guilty to having Didi-like optimism. I just hope I will have the time and the abilities to prove what I believe is true. I leave you with the Wikipedia description of Vladimir, or “Didi” –
“The “optimist” (and, as Beckett put it, “the major character”) of Godot, he represents the intellectual side of the two main characters (in contrast to his companion Estragon‘s earthy simplicity).
