Like water....

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I think of Young Manny Furious, aged 14, sitting in the kitchen, still not wearing glasses, hair still shooting out like four inch flames from the bonfire that had remained of his mind, reading a book about Bruce Lee's philosophy. 


"Be like water," Young Manny wonders aloud. "What the hell does that mean? Be wet?"

Roland Furious kind of just sighs and shakes his head, I'm sure wondering, himself, whence this simple, sort of oblivious lad that was supposedly his had come. 

"Water can flow, or it can crash," Young Manny reads aloud, puzzled. "How can a human being flow or crash? We're not fluid."

Roland Furious visibly winces. 

"Oh, does he mean, crash like a car? But that's a bad thing," Young Manny continues to ponder. 

"Jesus Christ," Roland Furious relents and crashes. "It's a metaphor. Go with the flow when you need to. Put a stop to things, or even destroy them when you need to. You know, be a gentle person as long as you can, but should the need arise to punch someone in the throat, you punch them in the throat. Without hesitation."

"Oh," Young Manny has had an epiphany. "It's like when you drink too much Mountain Dew. First you flow with all that energy, then you crash and fall asleep, right?"

Roland Furious returns to the flow by closing his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and middle finger, and sighing some more.

It's at that point that young Manny Furious decides he may need to seek out some kind of spiritual or philosophical mentor....

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