Summer Work

“Then let me ask you something. Are some people more interesting than others?”

“What?”

“Are some people more interesting than others?”

“Of course.”

“What do you think the criteria is for that?”

“The criteria for being interesting?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know.”

“Isn’t it to be doing things not everyone is doing? An interesting person is involved in the arts or sciences or is breaking human records of some sort, right?”

“Wait. I don’t get the arts and sciences connection.”

“OK, who’s more interesting—Keith Richards or you?”

“Keith Richards.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s Keith fucking Richards.”

“Right, and Keith is involved in the arts, and over the years it’s provided access to other interesting people and events, some of them historic—that’s why he’s more interesting than you.”

“OK, so what’s your point?”

“If you and Keith Richards were in a social situation, who should be deferring to whom? Would you be dismissing his remarks or attempts at humor? Would you be attempting to dominate the conversation? The answer is No, you’d be letting Keith lead while trying to add humor or a point of detail to whatever he’s saying.”

“Alright, yeah.”

“The point is, even though none of us are Keith Richards—even though we’re a bunch of bone-head surfers hanging out at a point break—nonetheless—some are more interesting than others.”

“Which means what?”

“That some surfers should be deferring to others? Right? The problem is when surfers who think they’re interesting but aren’t, cut off the interesting surfers.”

“Well, that’s just life in general. Some surfers think they’re interesting just because they surf. But it’s not about what we do on land, it’s about what we do in the water.”

“Yeah, but whoever is ripping in the water, is almost always ripping on land.”

“That’s not true. There are plenty of surfers who rip in the water, but suck on land.”

“Oh yeah? Like who?”

“Fucking half the dudes crawling this point!”

“Half the morons crawling this point can’t rip! What the fuck are you talking about?!”

“Well what do you mean rip? Like pro ripping?”

“Like consistently doing solid hacks and carves down the line—not a stutter here, a pinched turn there. Who this season is out ripping but lame on land?”

“Fuckin’ Jocko.”

“Jocko?! Are you kidding me?! Jocks doesn’t rip—he’s never done a fast hard round turn in his life!”

“He ripped when he was younger.”

“He never ripped, he just talked the loudest about his own surfing and most everyone went along so they wouldn’t get ruthlessly snaked—now he’s a bitter drunk who can barely surf.”

“Maybe.”

“But who? Who rips, but is also a fucking moron? The people who rip are almost always the most humble and coolest on land. They’re the ones who are almost always aloha—not fake aloha—like fucking Jocko.”

“Yeah, maybe so.”

“I can’t believe you said Jocko rips.”

“He can surf.”

“Yeah, a lot of us can surf. He can ride a wave. He can barely surf.”