These Stanley Kutnitz’s lines can represent Boris Johnson’s plight!
‘I dance for the joy of surviving,
On the edge of the road’
As the theatre of politics on a Shakespearean scale, after some Brutus knifed him in the back, it was good to find Boris Johnson surviving the ramming truckload of journalistic sour grapes of European kind and drenching in his humility with the head hanging - something only a genuine human can do. His trouble is he is burdened with a lot of journalistic baggage from the past through his op-ed articles full of wordplay designed to please the readers. This is a lethal combination to have when you are a serious politician. The unfortunate play of destiny it is if you didn’t know at the time you will be one day the Foreign Secretary. The puckish dirt diggers will go to any length like the recent report in The Independent revisiting a dead story from the past to re-varnish it to give it a new shine implying Johnson can put people’s lives at risk. This is the same newspaper, which has given us the nonsense of renaming Mumbai back to Bombay! The most popular op-eds, opinion editorials, are often the ones that poke fun at political correctness. Readers cannot have enough fun of the posturing by high moral grounds slipping on banana peels. The appeal of Boris Johnson is in his unassuming diplomatic posturing. As one of us, he will join a tug of war and gladly slip. Unassumingly, he will humbly ride a bike. He is a good writer. In his popular column, Boris Johnson enjoys a handsome purse most op-ed writers cannot dream of, let alone be paid for it. Until now, the banana skins thrown by his journalism remained contained. It worked for him within London politics. On the world stage, it is a different context.
First, he needs to borrow help from the poet Naomi Shihab Nye. Her poem, The Art of Disappearing, won’t make him Houdini, but will make up for the quick-wit skills his boss, Ms May possesses.
‘When they say Don’t I know you?
Say no
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering’
Halfway to the poem, Nye also offers a wonderful suggestion:
When someone recognizes you in grocery shop
nod briefly and become a cabbage’
Not forgetting the cabbage in the last line above exacting the image of Mr Johnson’s hairstyle, Nye offers an amazingly simple solution of the art of camouflage by suggesting to blend with the other items in one’s surroundings.
First, Boris Johnson should starve the journalists completely; no press briefings, no joint statements, no comments, no response to anything that can wait, no cameras, no limelight, and no interviews. Just work in the background. Yes, starve the vultures. It is still the aspect of democracy. Just as it is the aspect of democracy, where leftist journalists, the vultures, twist and bend the truth, not being serious about reporting issues, but creating a jamboree to brand him as a liar.
Let me offer my poet friend, Todd Swift’s lines:
Truth is always under reconsideration, has
a revolving door policy.’
Second, Mr Johnson should head to India and meet Mr Modi to learn how to survive against the character assassination and lies peddled for years by the blinded individuals still twisting the facts. Modi can teach him the best way to ignore the press and the act of disappearing to make use of the time for more constructive and productive work. Here are again the best lines from Nye’s poem mentioned earlier:
‘Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.’
Theresa May isn’t stupid, though most remainers would believe she is in appointing Boris Johnson as the Foreign Secretary. A clever move allows her handing over the poison chalices to both Priti Patel and Boris Johnson. Priti Patel will need courage in winding down her department (living up to her words). As a real shift in the government policy here in which, instead of cash investment taking priority, the skills investment could take a front seat. It can make a British commitment more productive. Such investment of skills not only creates jobs but also brings back benefits to us. It also stops the abuse of Britain's monetary help. The cash, also, has mastered the art of disappearing at the hand of crooked and corrupt humans.
So there you have it: The art of disappearing for Boris Johnson to practise to survive and achieve success and the art of disappearing of cash for Priti Patel to remain faithful to her baggage of winding down her department. The poisoned chalices then turn into magical potions of opportunities.
That will be the real joy of surviving. That will be the real art of disappearing. That will be walking through the revolving door of Truth. After all, the boss, Ms May, executed the art of disappearing during the referendum campaign, only to win the biggest prize she can have.
