“Go! Go! Go!” a little voice beckoned in my ear.
I was unused to the uninvited beckoning of little voices in my ear. “Where? Where? Where?” I asked. There was no response. “How should I travel?” I asked further, afraid that the little voice that had beckoned in my ear would suggest an awkward means of transportation, like the hump of a yak.
Still, there was no reply.
“Why should I Go! Go! Go!?” I asked. I was reasonably content with the life I had. Yet, even as the question left my lips, I realized that the beckoning of the little voice in my ear had awakened within me some dissatisfaction with being here, a dissatisfaction I wasn’t even aware was there.
There must be something better not here, the little voice that beckoned in my ear seemed to say. Better peanut butter. Better bubble bath. Better standard of living. Better quality of life. There must be some reason not to be here?
“Is that what you mean?” I cried. For the longest time, I heard not a peep, until I was sure that I would go mad.
Then: “Go! Go! Go!” the little voice beckoned in my ear, urgent, yet seductive.
I resisted. “I am happy where I am,” I told the little voice that had beckoned in my ear. And, then, I started to have doubts; it was as if posing the question (“Am I happy here?”) allowed of only one response (“No!”). I faltered.
“I…I don’t have the time,” I said, trying to excuse myself. Surely, I meant that I didn’t have the will. Or, was it desire that I lacked? My resolve to Stay! Stay! Stay! Inevitably perished.
“Go! Go! Go!” the little voice beckoned in my ear once more, and so I did. I Went! Went! Went! All over. I Went! Went! Went! to more places than can be imagined, using all manner of transport.
I decided that if I was to Go! Go! Go!, I would be the best Go! Go! Go!er the world had ever seen. We were a nation on the Go! Go! Go! We were Go! Go! Go!ing, Go! Go! Go!ing, Go! Go! Go!ne! We were really Go! Go! Go!ne, man. All the way. Sometimes, I thought that many of us were all dressed up with no place to Go! Go! Go!, but I was just Go! Go! Go!ing mad.
There were younger men than I Go! Go! Go!ing, of course, and women as well. That just meant that I would have to Go! Go! Go! that much faster, that much smarter. I couldn’t fall behind.
Then, one day, the little voice that beckoned in my ear so invitingly returned. But, this time, the message was a bit different: “Buy! Buy! Buy!” it urged.
At first, I was shocked by this betrayal. Then, I was furious: “I’ve been Go! Go! Go!ing for a long time! How dare you change the rules on me now!”
“Buy! Buy! Buy!” the little voice that beckoned in my ear replied, seductive as ever.
“If you insist,” I relented. “But, what shall I Buy! Buy! Buy!? Baby strollers? Machine guns? Stock in old Mr. Acker’s glue manufacturing plant? And, with what should I Buy! Buy! Buy!? I’ve been Go! Go! Go!ing for so long that I really haven’t the money to Buy! Buy! Buy!”
“Buy! Buy! Buy!”
What could I do? I came to the realization that it didn’t matter what I Bought! Bought! Bought! Not in the least. Although I wasn’t sure how I understood this, knowing it made acting much easier.
I borrowed a lot of money and went out to Buy! Buy! Buy! Houses! Cars! Jewels! Dishwashers! Cat food! Electric can openers! Television sets! Radios! Electric garage door openers! Home computers! Burglar alarms! Electric toothbrushes! Jogsaw puzzles! Newspapers! Clothes! Electric guitars! Deely boppers! Video cassette recorders!
When the little voice that beckoned in my ear changed its siren call once more – to “Spend! Spend! Spend!” – I was confused. Had I not been doing this all along?”
It took me a long time to figure out that I had, indeed, not been Spend! Spend! Spend!ing, that there was, in fact, a world of difference between Buy! Buy! Buy!ing and Spend! Spend! Spend!ing. Buy! Buy! Buy!ing entailed the laying out of money and the receipt of goods. Spend! Spend! Spend!ing entailed the laying out of money, but not necessarily the receipt of goods.
At least, that’s how it looked to me.
The movement of money was everything, you see.
I have spent my life in the service of the little voice that beckoned in my ear. Yet, you know, it has been so very, very long since I last heard it…
My little voice that beckoned in my ear, hast thou forsaken me?