Shouts From Down Under

The invisible author- noticed only when stuff-ups happen

Do you ever feel you're invisible? When you talk people don't seem to hear what you've said. You've never been very influential with your voice, but this goes further. People ignore you so well you begin to feel it's not their rudeness. It's also not your weak uncertain vocal timbre.

It's because you are a ghost. Perhaps a ghost writer. So, today I was thinking on this quite a bit. This happened to me the other day, again. This thing of speaking, just like everyone else does, in conversation, yet no one responds, no one hears it, no one answers, no one appears to have even heard you. This has gone on for years with me. Perhaps that's why I've become a writer, and revel in the Internet, and text written social media platforms.
People cannot ignore your writing. They may choose not to read it, but once having read it, they can't claim you didn't speak. (through words anyway)




I found a couple of bits and pieces today that help put my thought pattern across.

Here's a modern day animated version of a famous war poem, found years later by the author's daughter. Her mother had penned the poem to her late husband, who never returned from service in Vietnam. At the time of The daughter reading this poem, he was a ghost.

http://imgur.com/gallery/AFAM5

By Merrill Glass

But You Didn't

Remember the time you lent me your car and I dented it?
I thought you'd kill me...
But you didn't.

Remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was
formal, and you came in jeans?
I thought you'd hate me...
But you didn't.

Remember the times I'd flirt with
other boys just to make you jealous, and
you were?
I thought you'd drop me...
But you didn't.

There were plenty of things you did to put up with me,
to keep me happy, to love me, and there are
so many things I wanted to tell
you when you returned from
Vietnam...
But you didn't.

Source: http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/but-you-didnt#ixzz3krsANMfu
Family Friend Poems

And here's an advertisement that while creative and humorous, it implies attributes of an invisible character, an imaginary person who does all these macho tough-guy things, and so the truck that's advertised features super strength and attitude features too. Buy it, and you too will be a man like this; tough, durable, over the top strong, and no nonsense. Well, in reality it's just a truck, and that guy, though many try to be like that, and act tough and all, they die of food poisoning, cancer, snakebite or car crashes just like everyone else.

The person and truck is just a creation on someone's mind. A ghost.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/oxenford/cars-vans-utes/2010-landcruiser-79-serie...

Man truck for sale. Some of the things I have carried in my 2010 GXL Landcruiser; motorcycles (and motorcycle parts), beer (none of that airy-fairy boutique beer), power tools (lots of power tools) and stuff with dirt on it. The 4.5 litre V8 engine in my truck runs on pure testosterone. Some of the mods include; mickey thompson mud terrain tyres with tread that comes up to your knee, a Beaudesert exhaust system that makes sure all my neighbours are up when I go to work, a super winch so powerful that last week I used it to stop earth's rotation (irresponsible abuse of power, but a bets a bet), the Ironman HID lights on my truck are brighter than light sabres, the genuine Toyota bull bar was forged from samurai swords and has defended the integrity of my truck against a plethora of native flora and fauna, the standard tail lights have been swapped out for LED's so you'll never again have to change a bastard blown globe. Polyair air bags have been fitted to the rear suspension so you can adjust the ride height and quality to match your attitude (I don't even know what that means). A UHF radio comes with my truck so you can keep in touch with your mates without having to go on facetube or twit space or whatever the kids are doing. It has large rear view mirrors so you can see the look of bewilderment on the faces of the Roos as they cartwheel off into the spinifex and a front facing snorkel capable of sucking clouds right out of the sky. Some of the things you can expect when you buy my truck; you will become a better lover, your voice will get deeper (at least one octave), you will want T-bone steak for dinner every night (without salad). The GXL stands for Get Xtra Loving, the ladies will be powerless to resist your charms, you will discover illegitimate children you didn't know you had (although mainly Rangas). I have also parked this truck outside the Shearers Arms Hotel and came out to find every bodies dog in the back of my ute. All servicing has been completed by me, a trade qualified, self-employed diesel mechanic with a beard (and OCD). If you can't get there in my ute, you really need to re-think whether or not you need to go there. I'm letting this engineering marvel go for below market value because I'm a top bloke and that. If you think you're man enough to tame it, turn AC⁄DC off, put your beer down then switch off your tractor and give me call.

Sorry to say to the thousands of interested parties, I sold the Man Truck to the first bloke who looked at it. I was overwhelmed by the response to the ad. With such huge interest from the media, I want to spread the word about the real True Blue Aussie legends. They are our Volunteer Surf Life Savers. I am a passionate Surf Life Saver and I know how much effort and sacrifice is made by so many awesome people right around this country every weekend and the number of lives that are saved. Can I ask that you please spread the word that if you enjoyed the ad, please take a moment to go to www.surfsafeappeal.com.au and make a donation, and if you're ever on the Gold Coast, head to North Burleigh SLSC and have a beer with me, Jono

Not only is the macho-man owner imaginary, but so is the truck. It was sold before I even read this advert.

Then there are the real ghosts. If I wasn't so nervous, I'd go and see first hand, make every effort, and try to have a first hand experience of these claimed ghost sightings. I've heard through a close trusted friend of his personal experience of being "pushed physically hard from behind when he was in one of the convict rooms at Port Arthur". But that's not the same as having it happen to yourself, is it?

Maybe I can relate first hand to how ghosts feel.



A couple of relatives of mine were sent to Port Arthur as convicts. One of them became the Commandant, or so we have read in some historical papers. One of them was sent to the Penal Colony for stealing a piano.

We were at Port Arthur a few months after the mass shooting by Martin Bryant. A thought that entered my head at this time was: If ever there was a location where the chances of a mentally vulnerable person being possessed by a malignant entity were optimal, Port Arthur would have to be at the top of the list.

*****

Then, on a lighter note of Murphy's inevitability theorem, there is the other side of this invisibility phenomena.

Those times when against all logical reasoning and chances, against any predictable statistics, you suddenly become visible to the entire global population, as if an awareness spotlight has been switched on and aimed right at your embarrassed face.



Just one thing I feel is wrong. The world is not laughing AT this gentleman. Laughing with him yes. Not AT him. We all make these sort of mistakes. I respect a man who sees his error and chooses to laugh. That takes away any idiot-ness straight away. Except for those who think they don't make mistakes. That type of idiot-ness takes a lot more than laughing to remove.

Sparky