ON THE ROAD

On The Road

A man has a a passion for women. He sees them as goddesses. They give him meaning. And they seem to follow him around. They are loyal. Devoted.Willing to do anything for him.

The man in question is Grigory Petrovitch Liharev -- a  former landowner who has delved wholeheartedly into various forms of salvation and in the process has now been reduced to a beggar. Still he's got fire.

The fire is now focused on the female. He's also got a willing listener. Actually she's got no other option. A snowstorm has left a young noble woman Mlle. Ilovaisky stranded in the travelers' room of an inn and she is held hostage by the exhortations of Grigory Petrovitch Liharev.

Seems like Liharev might have taken the Forum -- a new age seminar which teaches people to be completely open  -- to the point that you meet someone for the first time and quickly share your intimate thoughts like you've known them for years. And Liharev would have been an ace Forum student. He's so good at what he does that you feel that this high class woman might just be willing to follow him,  a down and out forty year old, to the end of the world if he had more of a chance to work his spell on her.

The thing here is passion. Most of us just go about doing our thing and we don't burn -- we mostly simmer -- well -- since this story is called On The Road -- let me share some Jack Kerouac from his great novel On The Road that seems apropos:

"[...] the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' "

Liharev is definitely mad and people who are living normal lives are taken aback by such force -- such vitality -- such passion -- maybe they also desire it for themselves -- want to be in that ring of fire -- want to fully live in the moment. . .

But then the day comes and one wakes up and moves on.

Miie. Ilovaisky will continue being who she is -- wondering what's missing -- why she lacks that kind of passion? -- what is it that attracted her to Liharev? -- and Liharev will continue burning until he finally fades into the dark.