An Unfinished Life
© James C. Hess
Including certain lubrications.
At first, given the context, I assumed his behavior was readily attributed to something along the lines of performance art. My assumption was quickly discredited when he told me that the reason for his behavior and practice was because he was looking for what he deemed a comfort food.
When I pointed out to him that certain lubrications don't readily qualify nor constitute by definition comfort foods he replied, sincerely and seriously, that they did, because they were an acquired taste.
It was an assertion not easily disputed, given his honesty. Regardless, I suggested that if he were looking for a comfort food that was, in fact, an acquired taste, he might want to consider paste, the sort once readily and greedily consumed by five-year-olds in kindergarten during craft time.
Whether or not he ever pursued this suggestion I do not know. What I do know is that acquired tastes are just that, and liberty must given because good things can come of such exploration.
For example, you might come to find you actually like films and movies starring, among others, Robert Redford.
The first time I saw Robert Redford was in "The Sting". I wasn't overly impressed by his performance, and actually found it irritating. Then I saw him in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", alongside Paul Newman, and, again, found his performance irritating, and very annoying.
As a rule, if I don't like a given actor I can attribute the dislike to a specific characteristic. In the case of Redford there was a laundry list of characteristics that, overall, led me to avoid his works whenever possible.
But I would make a misstep now and then, and find myself subjected to his latest cinematic production. As I watched them through the years I came to realize what it was about his acting that so disturbed me: Instead of just acting he had to ACT. Heavy on the melodramatics, light on the talent.
Finally, I could no longer endure whatever form of abuse it was he was deliberately inflicting on the Art and craft of acting, and vowed I would never willingly watch one of his films or movies again.
Again, I slipped up: A few weeks ago, distracted by a handful of deadlines and other writing-related obligations, I agreed to go see a film starring Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman, entitled "An Unfinished Life". To suggest doing so is an acquired taste is a certain understatement.
