-- Num ---- Username ---- Category ------------- Posted -- Expires --- Pages --- | 71830 | WHITELA | CHATTER | 11/01/95 | 11/15/95 | 3 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Description: The inner workings of buildings and people | ================================================================================ I work in a clean, white, right-angled building; neat and uninteresting to the eye. About a week ago, the usually pristine white-tiled ceiling got a big brown concentric organic water ring right at the bottom of the stairs. After a day or two, somebody sent a vase beneath the water mark, and it filled up with some liquid that looked suspiciously like a urine sample. The following day, the vase had been ousted, and replaced with a more heavy-duty guardcan. Yesterday, some men on ladders looked at the spot and made some knowing humming noises as their walkie-talkies blasted numbers and parts and details about emergency transformer and electrical emergencies. Today, there are more and more men in blue poly-cotton blend: on ladders, jangling keys, blaring static, peering upwards, wielding scary medieval tools. They have removed large groups of ceiling tiles, and for the first time I can see into the bowels of the building. The dark pipes and beams and girding and wires are an interesting contrast to the usual synthetic sterility of the ceiling. I see parallels between ceilings and people. Most people appear synthetic and organized on the surface. However, as soon as something begins to break down inside, those organic brown marks surface. Maintenance is required, and people gather 'round brandishing tools. The facade drops away, and passers by get an intimate view of the workings, of the insides. I never really liked my building until today, until I saw beneath the orderly facade to the dark jungle of pipes below. I feel the same way about people: after I've seen them fall apart, after I've seen the jumbled mess of their inner workings, I can begin to appreciate them for who they really are not for who they seem to be. thas' all. Moonie@yours(: