Jean-Paul
Last night I discover a man, maybe he’s in his 70’s, maybe he’s 80 - doing Taekwondo by the East River. After a quick introduction, we get to talking, or rather he gets to talking. He is happy to demonstrate Taekwondo but more than that - he is like a lot of the old people I meet - or maybe it’s all people I meet - he claims to know all secrets of the human heart, as well as the human brain. He has the answer to all of the world’s problems.
He is French. His name is Jean-Paul. And he is on his seventh trip around the world.
I believe him. Of course, I believe just about anyone. And then he rattles on for about a half hour while I click some portraits of him. He finally concludes with the wizard-like pronouncement that Americans are spoiled, that we are terrorists, and that what this country needs is a good military government.
He claims that the military should rule here. He also pronounces that everyone that is running this country - most countries for that matter - are only after one thing: power.
So there something in his speech for everyone. After a while, I get bored, shake his hand and go on my way to reshoot some of my river stuff.
I wonder why people must pretend to know everything. Why everyone’s aunt and uncle can give you advice on any subject at all. Sometimes, my aunt Fay discusses the pros and cons of various types of brain surgery. But if you ask her where her coat is - she doesn’t know.
As I walk off - Jean Paul declaims that we will meet again. Surely we will, I reply. And yes, I’ll have a print for him the next time we meet.
But I can’t help but wonder where he’s bound. Will he be practicing Taekwondo on the streets of Paris next. He says he hasn’t been back to his own country in years - and maybe it’s time to return.
Why is it so hard to live in doubt; to live without knowing what it’s all about? Without having opinions about subjects we know nothing about?
Last night, our Governor, who was elected as a white horse candidate, as a man who would ride into town and clean things up in the state’s capital was accused of having used an expensive Washington prostitute. So now you ask people - how can such a thing be? How can a reform candidate step so far over the line?
And watch the answers: power corrupts. All politicians are phonys. It was a frame-up by the opposition. And I’m sure many other opinions. But it is just so difficult to understand without walking in this guys shoes. He will be the topic for late-night comedians for at least two weeks. And don’t get me wrong - I’m as shocked and amused as anyone - but this guy was elected overwhelmingly. The one thing that was never in doubt was his character.
Like I say, from here on in, ask me anything of a non-factual nature, and I’m just going to shake my head and say: sorry, I don’t know. If you need advise, go ask Jean-Paul.
Comments
Comment from richo
Time: March 11, 2008, 4:14 am
Lester, I really enjoyed your comment!
So much true and spirit in it. Thanks!
-richo-
Comment from Lester
Time: March 11, 2008, 10:25 am
The Lieutenant Governor, who would take over if Spitzer stepped down, would be the first African-American governor in NY history. He would also be the first legally blind governor. But David Paterson comes with his own checkered history. For years his official biography indicated that he was brought up in Harlem and was an assistant DA, both of which aren’t true. He also was handed his state senate seat in a “special election” arranged by supporters of his influential father. Such are the politics of NY.
Spitzer has to step down if he’s being prosecuted by the feds. If he doesn’t, he’ll be impeached. Then there’ll be calls for a special election. This could be a mirror image of NJ, where a governor resigned in a sex scandal and was replaced by the state’s U.S. senator. Hillary could conceivably end up being the governor of NY. Then we could all rest easy knowing that when the red phone rang at 3 AM in the morning, it would be the governor who answered it.
Comment from dave beckerman
Time: March 11, 2008, 10:57 am
The big danger for Spitzer is having broken the Mann Act by transporting a prostitute across state lines. The idea of a blind governor is good start - it may make it more difficult to drive prostitutes from state to state but I swear - the whole scene reminds me of the farce of the GOV. in Blazing Saddles. I think that the CT Gov. also got into trouble - so we’ve got a trifecta going.
Comment from Charles Maclauchlan
Time: March 11, 2008, 11:20 am
“If you need advice go ask Jean-Paul.”
I donno…kinda works for me.
Comment from JeffK
Time: March 11, 2008, 3:31 pm
Wasn’t he paying attention in all those cases he prosecuted?
I keep asking myself how a guy who has to know the most intricate workings of money laundering and prostitution rings and every other criminal act was as stupid as all the others who’ve been caught.
Comment from dave beckerman
Time: March 11, 2008, 4:43 pm
We all have shadow personalities. The more we appear as good, the more there is a dark side. I don’t know enough about him, but my guess is that he wanted to be caught. When you are caught doing bad things, then finally the two sides of the personality are joined and you become who you really are.
Too Freudian for you? Then let’s just say, he was set up by the Republicans who were about to lose power in the Assembly and hated this guy. Too conspiratorial?
He tried to fly too close to the sun - arrogance and power will do that to you - and his wings melted.
Comment from Craig M. Nisnewitz
Time: March 11, 2008, 7:45 pm
Spitzer should resign. For me that enough. Prosecuting him for hiring a prostitute would be to bring politics into the judicial system which is what Spitzer did.
Comment from Lester
Time: March 11, 2008, 9:21 pm
First of all guys, the Emperor’s Club was a “social introduction service that specialized in the introduction of fashion models, pageant winners and exquisite students, graduates and women of successful careers (finance, art, media etc…) to gentlemen of exceptional standards.” It wasn’t a whore house, like every one is making it out to be. Spitzer, who obviously had exceptional standards, may simply have used their services to find a pageant winner as a sort of sounding board to bounce off some ideas he had about closing the state’s projected five billion dollar budget deficit. There is a precedent for this. When Mel Brooks as the Governor in Blazing Saddles had trouble putting his pen back in his penholder after numerous attempts, Harvey Korman, the state attorney general, suggested that Brooks just think of his secretary. The pen went right in.
Comment from Craig M. Nisnewitz
Time: March 11, 2008, 9:35 pm
But where did the money come from that Spitzer used. He broke the rule of “never dip your pen in company ink.”
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Comment from Lester
Time: March 11, 2008, 2:18 am
I wouldn’t trust any guy in New York with a beret and a French accent who calls himself Jean-Paul. He’s either an out-of-work character actor who has gone off the deep end or a con-man. He’s probably from the Bronx and his real name is Eliot Spitzer.
And I especially don’t trust old people who claim to know the secret of life. I prefer those, like myself, who suffer from Alzheimers. There’s an old woman that I meet every day walking my dog. And every day she asks the same question, “What’s his name?” Every day I tell her his name and every day she bends over to pet him and my dog lunges at her and tries to bite her. The funny thing is that I keep forgetting to tell her not to pet the dog.