“What do you do when everything you’ve ever believed in, everything you’ve strived toward and everything you’ve molded yourself into… Turns out to be a lie? I’m fortunate enough this has never happened to me. I’ve always taken a step back from the crowds, from the speakers, the whisperers and the listeners. I’ve kept my circle small, but I know even tight-knit groups can sometimes have… Snakes in.”
“The irony is, it appears the person who named himself the Yellow Python wasn’t the snake in the grass, but a sheep. Your shepherd was the cold-blooded danger-noodle instead, judging from your reaction to Mr. Kleen last week… The zookeeper. In that moment of revelation, your beliefs, your goals, your external and internal images… Disintegrated. The tower was build on a foundation of sand, and those sands shifted. So, what is left to do but to start again?”
“You are armed with what appears to be a truth. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, I dunno. For all I know, Kleen told you mac’n’cheese is a deep state conspiracy to sneak tainted bat soup into Nascar dugouts. What I do know, however, is what you will do. You won’t suddenly research architecture, you won’t take building courses… You will ask the first guy you see in a hi-vis vest and hard hat what to do… And he will point out this nice pile of sand.”
“We are all creatures of habit. For all the intelligence of humans, we have a REAL hard time learning from our mistakes. Your mistake was giving your entire self to another, trusting unfailingly in their intentions, their mission and their methods. In one brief moment, that fell… Because you gave yourself to another. Mr. Kleen. All it took was one small utterance, and suddenly the Jaundiced Cock shed his skin at the behest of his new master. No “I’ll get back to you”, no “Where’s your proof”, no “I’ll see for myself”, just dropping to your knees and licking a newer, shinier boot.”
“I’m not going to tell you how to live your life, you know why? Because you’ll listen. I’m not gonna run around here like I have the answers to all your questions. A few of them maybe, but the whole gamut? Nah. You should take my words with a pinch, maybe a whole fistful of salt. But I beseech you… listen. Not because I have been in your shoes, but because I have been smart enough not to.”
“Walk away. Wipe your eyes. Take a deep breath, count to ten, take off those rose-tinted glasses and look around you. Look for the evidence of good and evil in the world, look for the signs. Learn to stand on your own two feet. You wanna learn from your betters? Fine, but make people PROVE they are your betters, don’t just take their word for it. Don’t just take MY word for it. I will show you. When you are on your back and I am soaring through the sky, you will realise… I’m someone to look up to.”