All Things Considered

Ricky Roma (played by Al Pacino) doles out a world of wisdom sitting at a cafe to Lingk (played by Jonathan Spruce). Did you say you have’nt watched the movie ? Blimey ! ;)

Read ONLY if abundant patience is your virtue. Quite a long extract, this one.

A restauraunt. Roma strikes a conversation with Lingk who sits in the booth right next to Roma’s.

                         [ROMA]
            …all train compartments smell
            vaguely of shit.  It gets so you
            don’t mind it.  That’s the *worst*
            thing that I can confess.  You know
            how long it took me to get there?
            A long time.  When you die you’re
            going to regret the things you
            don’t do.  You think you’re queer…?
            I’m going to tell you something:
            we’re all queer.  You think that
            you’re a thief?  So what?  You get
            befuddled by a middle-class
            morality…?  Get shut of it.  Shut
            it out.  You cheated on your
            wife…?  You did it, live with it.
                   (pause)
            You fuck little girls, so be it.
            There’s an absolute morality?  May
            be.  And then what?  If you think
            there is, then be that thing.  Bad
            people go to hell?  *I* don’t think
            so.  If *you* think that, ACT that
            way.  A hell exists on earth?  Yes.
            *I* won’t live in it.  That’s me.

                      <…..>
           …..Eh?  What I’m saying,
            what is our life?
                   (pause)
            It’s looking forward or it’s
            looking back.  And THAT’s our life.
            That’s it.  Where *is* the moment?
                   (pause)
            And what is it that we’re afraid of?
            Loss.  What else?
                   (pause)
            The bank closes.  We get sick, my
            wife died on a plane, the stock
            market collapsed…the house burnt
            down…what of these happen…?
            None of ‘em.  We worry anyway.
            What does this mean?  I’m not
            secure.  How can I be secure?
                   (pause)
            Through amassing wealth beyond all
            measure?  No.  And what’s beyond
            all measure?  That’s a sickness.
            That’s a trap.  There is no measure.
            Only greed.  How can we act?

            The right way, we would say, to
            deal with this: “There is a one-in-
            a-million chance that so and so
            will happen…Fuck it, it won’t
            happen to me…” No.  We know
            that’s not the right way I think.
                   (pause)
            We say the correct way to deal with
            this is “There is a one-in-so-and-
            so chance this will happen…God
            protect me.  I am powerless, let it
            not happen to me…” But no to that,
            I say.  There’s something else.
            What is it? “If it happens, AS IT
            MAY for that is NOT within our
            powers, I will deal with it, just
            as I do today with what draws my
            concern today.” I say this is how
            we must act.  I do those things
            which seem correct to me today.  I
            trust myself.  And if security
            concerns me, I do that which today
            I think will make me secure.  And
            every day I do that, when that day
            arrives that I need a reserve, [a]
            odds are that I have it, and [b]
            the true reserve that I have is the
            strength that I have of acting each
            day without fear.
                   (pause)
            According to the dictates of my
            mind.
                   (pause)
            Stocks, bonds, objects of art, real
            estate.  Now: what are they?
                   (pause)
            An opportunity.  To what?  To make
            money?  Perhaps.  To lose money?
            Perhaps.  To “indulge” and to
            “learn” about ourselves?  Perhaps.
            So fucking what?  What isn’t?
            They’re an opportunity.  That’s all.
            They’re an event.  A guy comes up
            to you, you make a call, you send
            in a brochure, it doesn’t matter,
            “There’re these properties I’d like
            for you to see.” What does it mean?
            What you want it to mean.
                   (pause)

                                  [LINGK]
            Money?
                   (pause)

                                 [ROMA]
            If that’s what it signifies to you.
            Security?
                   (pause)
            Comfort?
                   (pause)
            All it is is THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO
            YOU.
                   (pause)
            That’s all it is.  How are they
            different?
                   (pause)
            Some poor newly married guy gets
            run down by a cab.  Some busboy
            wins the lottery.
                   (pause)
            All it is, it’s a carnival.  What’s
            special…what draws us?
                   (pause)
            We’re all different.
                   (pause)
            We’re not the same.
                   (pause)
            We are not the same.
                   (pause)
            Hmmm.
                   (pause, sighs)
            It’s been a long day.
                   (pause)
            What are you drinking?

                         [LINGK]
            Gimlet.

                         [ROMA]
            Well, let’s have a couple more.  My
            name is Richard Roma, what’s yours?

                         [LINGK]
            Lingk.  James Lingk.

                         [ROMA]
            James.  I’m glad to meet you.
                   (they shake hands)

And the world goes looking for Jean-Paul Sartre and Bertrand Russell ! :)

And for those of you still looking for a reason go watch, here is the taste of the cast: Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin.. Star-studded movie, hanh ? ;)