Two Men

Hi. Thanks for seeing me.

It's my pleasure! What can I do for you today?

Well, I'm here to...I'd like to ask you for...I mean, I'm wondering if you'd be able to...

Yes?

I'm sorry. I'm trying to find the words but it's hard with what I'm asking. You see, I've not done anything like this before and I want to do it right because, well, you see, there's a lot depending on it but I don't know...I'm...

Nervous?

Yes! Very!

I understand. It is nerve-wracking. How can I put you at your ease? Would you like a drink?

No, no thanks. I think I just need to find a way in.

How about if I ask you some questions to get you started. Would that help?

Possibly, yes. I mean, I have this whole speech prepared but now that I'm here, it seems mercenary to ask you outright... for money.

You say that but that's what you're here for, isn't it? To ask me for money?

Well, yes but it's more than that. I want you to want to give it to me.

But of course! And let me assure you that I won't give it to you unless I want to.

Yes, I realise that but...I don't know...I wanted a chance to convince you. I don't want to just be handed some money. I want it to mean something to you.

I see. Interesting. Well, I think the only way to find out if I will help you out is by telling me what this is all about. I'm always interested in investing in the right project and I'm always interested in hearing people's proposals. Shoot!

Right. Well, here goes!

Indeed. When you're ready.

Okay. Ahem. Right. I've come here today because I am concerned. You might be curious, looking at the man who stands before you and asking yourself, "Who is this man here and now and what does he want my money for?"

Well, I am many things in this world. I hold many roles. I am a father. I am a brother. I am a son. I am a friend. I am a teacher. And I live a rich life. Don't misconstrue me: I do not hold wealth but I do have a life which is filled with riches. The roles I hold provide me with those riches and the reason for that? Because they involve people and people are important to me.

I see. It sounds like you don't need me.

Pardon?

I said, it sounds like you don't need me. Or what I have. It sounds like material wealth, money, is not important to you. It sounds like you don't want my investment.

It's not. I mean, it is! And I do want your investment. Of course I do!

I think you need to make up your mind!

Please...please...let me explain...please...

Okay. Then go on. Get to the point.

Okay. Okay. I'm sure that you have people that you care about?

This isn't about me.

No, but I can see that you are a man who would want those closest to him to have everything possible, am I right? If you could give them their wildest wishes, you'd try to make it happen, right?

I'm not sure where this is going. Again, this isn't about me. I'm giving you one more minute, then your time with me is over. I'm here to invest in genuine opportunity.

Okay! Right! Well, here it is! And it would be an investment in genuine opportunity, absolutely it would! You see, I want to help folk, folk who are floundering, folk who don't have a purpose. So what I'm here today to ask from you is for funding for an arts' project...

Ah. I thought so...

A project that will provide a community with something worthwhile. A place for exploration. A place for learning and expanding. A place in which to invest.

I see. It's not really my sort of thing...

But hear me out! It would be an awesome investment! You see, I can see the world becoming more automated. More and more, it's becoming a machine. The human element is being destroyed and restricted, the ability for us to create anything diminished by algorithms and artificial intelligence. With each day, the juice is being squeezed out of our existence, leaving nothing but the husk. We serve the mighty dollar so that we may better take care of ourselves and acquire all the material entrapments that society says we need and so, our humanity shrinks. And with it, so does our experience and so does our breadth of living. Creating is key to growing and without it, we are less.

You're forgetting, I think, that I am a disciple of the mighty dollar...I don't think of myself as less.

Yes, you're not less. Indeed, you are so much. But wouldn't you like to use that wealth for good? Wouldn't you like to invest in the future of others? To invest in society? To invest in others? That's what I'm proposing. You could be the Carnegie of this millenium, an Arts' hero. You could have your name in every city, starting with ours, emblazoned on the side of a centre and every kid entering that building would know that you were responsible for providing that, whether it's a studio or a stage or...

I find theatre tedious. It gives me nothing. It is not an interest of mine.

But it could be. Imagine if one of your centres gave flight to the career of an Oscar winning actor of the future or a Tony award winning composer. Wouldn't that be something?

Well...

And think of the good it would do. Kids who were normally roaming the streets would be participating, turning their lives around. Old people would talk of your beneficent nature, how you transformed their lives and influenced the next generation. Families would thank you for giving their little Jimmy an opportunity that only you could provide. You could bask in their praise as they worship you!

Yes, I can see the benefit of that.

Yes?

Yes, and I would be lying if I said that that part of it doesn't appeal to me.

Yes?

However, I think you're mistaking me as someone who places value in these things, the Arts. And before you launch into another impassioned speech about humanity's creativity and expression and its importance to us as a race, I'd like to say something. I don't see it. I don't get it. People who spend their time pretending to be others or writing stories or singing in musicals or painting on canvases or whatever they choose to do, I just don't think that there is a place for that anymore. It's an indulgence and a facile one at that. It's a waste of time and is something that I believe holds no value.

Art has value but that's in its ability to be sold, not for any other purpose and even that is limited.

You're wrong.

I mean, AI. Look at that, for instance. That is a wonderful invention. It takes away all that need for thought and deeper musing. You just ask it to do something for you, say, create me a picture in the style of Monet, or write me a song in the style of Bernstein, or tell me a story in the style of Dahl, or write me a sonnet in the style of Shakespeare and in an instant? Bam! It's there. No time taken hand twisting and gazing out the window, trying to find inspiration. The ease with which this can be done is phenomenal, much more so than some Arts' centre production with its rickety scenery and tinny music. I mean, look at the effects in films now. Soon, you won't need actors. Why would I give you my money to invest in something which is so clearly dying out? Soon, AI will be able to create without precedent and who knows what new worlds will be opened to us when it can? It's a compelling argument, wouldn't you say?

No.

I think so.

No. For all of those reasons that you have just cited, it is not compelling.

Really? Well, I think I would be stupid to invest in something that a computer can do just as well. And people don't care about going out any more. They're quite happy to be entertained through reels on their phones and memes on their screens. The live performance and the infantile nature of play acting is something only applauded by those who don't see the real value to life. Painting is for toddlers and story writing is for nursery classes. Entertainment can be much more easily obtained through a device with minimal effort. I think that is more the human experience than creativity: finding ways to make life easier.

These things you cite as worthwhile are lame pursuits for the soft-minded with no grit or fire.

They are not! They are the lifeblood of what makes us who we are! They are the markers of the human race! These artistic flourishes are our very essence, not the pursuit of coin or bonds or status symbols. Humans are expression; humans are creativity; humans are artists and this should be celebrated, not pushed to the margins as something less or minimal, that holds no value! I would argue that those who create hold more wealth than the content of your deposit boxes and your garages and your overseas homes!

Well, I disagree.

Do you have children?

What's that got to do with anything?

Actually, I know you do. Did you ever take them to ballet? Did you ever go to a nativity play? Did they learn a musical instrument?

I can't remember.

How convenient.

I think you should leave. It seems to me that we have said all there is to be said. I won't be investing in your project.

Were you too busy?

Pardon?

Their school plays? Their poetry recitals? Were you too busy? Is that why you can't remember? Because you were never there?

I think this is over now. Enjoy your moment as it will be the last one that you will ever have with me.

It would explain a lot, I think. I mean, how could you value something which means so little to you? How could you support something for others when you couldn't even be there for your own children?

You do not get to judge me, I'm afraid.

Too late for that, I think.

I can see how futile this is. I won't waste any more of your time and I would hate to waste any of your precious money.

You need to leave.

Don't worry. I'm going. But I will just leave you with this final thought. Don't believe that money will comfort you. It may make you comfortable as you live in luxury, but I can guarantee that a time will come when that will not be enough and you will look elsewhere for sustenance, when you have it all, when you have everything that you can acquire with your mercantile ways.

That wealth? Its value is cold. You could bring a smile to someone's face who lives a life of hardship but you're choosing not to. Experience is two-fold: light and dark. And you could spread the light but you're choosing not to. You could provide, excite, expand, delight but you are choosing not to. You are choosing self-gratuity and greed instead of beneficence.

Wealth is not purely locked in a vault. Only those with truly rich lives ever realise that.

I hope your accumulated coin keeps you warm at night and that your conscience is comforted by avarice's golden glow.

I would start a fundraiser if I were you. Call on the generosity of all those other "creative humans". I would wish you good luck but I wouldn't mean it. Goodbye. Shut the door on your way out.

Thank you.

I'm going to call someone unless you leave now.

Don't you want to know what I'm thanking you for?

No. This is tiresome now. Get out.

Thank you for declining me. Having your money to fund a project so worthy would have been a sacrilege. I'm glad that you don't get to benefit as it would have been wasted.

Peter!

I'm going. Save your precious breath. Goodbye.

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