Vladimir and Me

Photo by A. L. on Unsplash

M — Do you take time to be alone?
V — Sometimes. I’m a very busy man, with lots of things to do.
M — It’s a good habit to get into.
V — What’s your point?
M — It centers us. Still, we can be alone and get so busy we’re not centered.
V — What do you mean by centering?
M — Feeling close to ourselves… to our mortality… our aging… our physical degradation… the inevitability of our death… which leads to us affirming our lives… acting as if we matter.
V — We have to be busy and constructive with our lives, so we will be remembered.
M — We don’t know if we will be remembered… or how… we have no such control.
V — With all the advances in data storage, of course we will be remembered.
M — Even if we were, we won’t feel a thing from being remembered…
V — That’s different.
M — How so?

Pause as Vladimir reflects.

V — We have to trust that we will. Stalin is remembered. Hitler will never be forgotten. Ever.
M — What have you learned from them?
V — Determination. Once you set your sights on something, you never relent. Only death should keep you from your objective.
M — Did they contribute to…