The intense beauty of the music drew Garnet Chandler's attention away from his thoughts and from the onyx cufflinks that refused to fit into the appropriate holes in the stiffly starched cuffs of his shirt. As always, when the CD reached this particular aria, Chandler was charmed by the perfection of the sound. With the Los Angles Philharmonic and the Opera chorus purring softly in the background, Luciano Pavarotti's voice began to lead him away from the worries of the office, the city and the evening to come.
Knowing what Puccini had in store for him, Chandler stood rooted in anticipation. The annoying cufflink forgotten in his hand. The orchestra began the lead-in and Pavarotti's voice took flight. Chandler lost himself in the music and when the aria ended he turned off the CD and let the experience reverberate within him, his memory replaying the moment with greter fidelity than any machine.
Then, he reluctantly checked the time by the clock on the mantle and returned his attention to the annoying banality of his cufflinks and the speech he was to deliver in two hour's time. Great though the honour of delivering the main address at the annual meeting of the Law Society was, all things considered, Chandler would have preferred fifteen minutes on stage at the Met with a voice half as good as Pavarotti's.
Yeah, you and half the planet, thought Chandler finally succeeding in getting his cufflinks to cooperate.
Actually he would settle for a speech that made some interesting points and didn't leave him looking like a fool at the end of the evening. Giving a speech before an audience of 500 professional nit pickers was not his idea of pleasure, no matter the honour that came with it. He could imagine some of the conversations over cocktails at the end of the evening: "Can anyone tell me what Chandler meant by 'professional walls?' Did that make sense to anyone?" "I'd hate to be a defendant whose life depended on that particular analogy!"
Chandler sighed and began wrestling with his bow tie. Beside lawyers, he wondered, did anyone on the planet still hold these ridiculous formal dinners anymore? And was anything really wrong with those clip on ties? Or shirt cuffs that did up with buttons? And how could he fix up that "wall" analogy that was centeral to tonight's speech in the time he had left? All he could do was run through it one more time and hope the muse would strike.
"If you let your gaze wander out to the periphery of the auditorium that surrounds us, " he mumbled, picturing a sea of attentive faces staring back at him. "You will realize we have a great deal to be thankful for for those walls we see on every side of us. Without their support, that large chandelier would be in the lap of those esteemed justices at the table to my left." (in his imagination, this would provoke a few appreciative chuckles from the audience.) "And the steel beams we know gird the roof above those acoustic tiles would be on all our toes and noggins." (More chuckles) "Without those walls we would be subject to the very inclement weather we all experienced on our way here this evening. Without the wall to my right we would all find ourselves uninvited guests at the wedding of Thelma and Todd whose reception is being held in the next ballroom." (Out right laughter and scattered applause.)
"As you can see, I have been thinking way too much about 'walls' lately; so, to ease my burden, I'd like to share some of those thoughts with you tonight. For instance, I've decided that some walls are a good thing. Like the walls of this auditorium, they protect us. If you think about it (and as I was just saying, I have), our skin is a kind of wall. It protects us from our environment. It holds us in. Without the wall of our skin we would just be a mess on the floor. I guess you could say our skin is one of those boundaries that defines us. I am what is within my skin, my environment is what is without.
"But other walls only serve to divide us. That is especially true of walls, unlike our skin, that are rigid and impermeable. Walls of prejudice artificially divide the sexes for example, and are used to discriminate against people on the basis of colour, race, wealth, age, culture or profession.
"Some walls were once useful but have become outdated. The have survived beyond their useful function. They are dangerous to cross and threaten to topple over and crush us.
"The more I thought the more I came to realize that walls provide a useful metaphor for the laws of this land. Some laws were intended to be healthy supports for a sane and civilized society. Others...."
The telephone rang. Saved by the bell, thought Chandler.
Garnet Chandler took one last look at himself in the mirror. His wife had always assured him that all men looked handsome in a tuxedo, but to himself he always looked like the Pillsbury dough boy in a penguin costume. He shook his head and picked up the phone.
"Mr. Chandler? It's Peters at the security station. Your limousine has just arrived."
Chandler consulted his watch. "A few minutes early, let me see if my wife is ready yet. If she is we will be right down."
"Fine sir. I'll let the driver know."
Chandler replaced the phone. "Darling," he called. "Are you almost ready? The car's here."
Click here for "Hitting The Wall" part 5
(C) B.E. Fraser, 1997 No copying of this material without the expressed permission of the author is permitted.
