Open letter to Jed McKenna
The
silence is breaking now, so in retrospect it's no surprise that my wife brought
me your first two books. After reading just a few words, it was almost
like reading the autobiography I probably won’t write. Everything tumbles
out in no particular order.
Amusing is
that I strongly disagreed with a different manifestation, Regis McKenna, who
plucked me out of my tech writing position, where I had screwed up dangerously by
including warnings in the operating procedures about Hydroflouric
Acid. The people making stuff on silicon chips weren't supposed to know
about this liquid that eats away nerves under fingernails, stopping the normal
pain signals.
So I was
promoted and had a useless job in an office right next to his, up there with
all the vice presidents. After a couple of weeks he called me into his
office, supposedly to see how it was going with gluing product samples into
little plastic boxes. But actually it was to lay on me,
with piercing eye (he'd gotten his degree from the Jesuit,
Yeah, I
thought, but what about our undefined self? I was disgusted, really,
really fed up with it all, and got the hell out of there.
It has
been a long, difficult ride, very colorful. But why re-invent the
wheel? I can just refer people to your books. We've all got enough
to do. And right now I feel like doing some music on my keyboard.
So to end this, here's something that wrote itself a couple of days ago, like a
bird winging through.
FREEDOM NOW
free of peace
free of war
nowhere to go
goodbye freedom
don’t close the door
don’t get it?
well there’s nothing to get
so don’t snore
the sun is coming up
won’t go down
goodbye freedom
hello now