(Tumblers- New Orleans)
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JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Fine. The sun's out and it's warming up.
CALLIOPE: Enjoy it. You mentioned working on a new column a couple days ago. How is that coming?
JOE: Done. I wrote it about Russ's eightieth birthday party and how I wish everyone in the world could get along the way people did at his party.
CALLIOPE: That would be nice. Do you think it's possible?
JOE: Possible- yes. Likely- realistically I'm not so sure. It seems people have been at each other's throats since Cain and Abel. We don't seem to have the patience as humans to cooperate with each other.
CALLIOPE: Humans don't seem to get it.
JOE: I can't argue with you there. It seems like we can get along for a while, at least some of us can. Then we dissolve into conflict. Having our own way seems to trump living with each other in peace.
CALLIOPE: So what's the answer?
JOE: I wish I knew. I have been searching for it as long as I have been writing. There probably isn't one answer or someone would have discovered it by now. The answer doesn't seem to lie in logic, emotion or belief. I don't know what's left.
CALLIOPE: How about the arts?
JOE: Maybe there's a better chance there. But the arts sometimes express and even incite conflict.
CALLIOPE: I can't argue with you there.
JOE: Maybe peace is the ultimate challenge for humans and it will only result from our combined efforts on all fronts. We shall see. Talk with you tomorrow.