I had dinner with a good friend tonight, and described my Father-Ong-as-Army-Chaplain dream to her and my thoughts on its likely provenance. Wayne Booth mentions Ong (83) as one of rhetoric’s “Major Rescuers,” and Ong’s spirit is certainly present throughout the text in Booth’s attention to the importance of audience in rhetoric. The other source, I think, was in some disturbing video footage from Iraq I came across this week: it definitely left an impression.
I related this to my friend, and — having seen the video footage, and knowing my abiding interest in the uses of rhetoric — she was quiet for a moment. “So what this dream is telling you,” she said, “is that, subconsciously, you’ve linked your life’s pursuit to tipping over outhouses.”
“Yup.”
“And you’re OK with that.”
Yup.
Mike,
Envision that exact event but at NTC. PFC Carey is in the outhouse and SPC Varnes and PVT Nestor are doing the tipping. You can hear SSG Johnson laughing now. I think Enfinger would have pissed himself at that one.
Actually, Rob, it kinda did — I think you must’ve been out on a convoy when we got aggressed and Truckmaster Nash got ‘killed’ in an outhouse. Man, she was furious.
And yeah, there’s no one I can imagine better being in that outhouse than Carey — only you know it woulda been Ski and Ted; Varnes always kept his shenanigans off-duty. (Speaking of Carey, ahem… ;-D)