Brent: Hero or Madman?
There are some who might worry (or in the case of the Master Manipulator (every store needs one) who hopes) that Brent is on the verge of madness. Not Brent. –I mean, that is to say, Brent is not mad!
Not Brent is a formidable opponent and may well outnumber Brent by a significant margin. As you can see from diagram 1, Brent is surrounded. While many people in the photo are not the Not Brent, any of them could be a potential Not Brent. At first, like you, I just assumed that Brent was paranoid with delusions of grandeur. Now I am beginning to wonder.
Diagram 1. I trust Brent. No, stop looking at Goatboy's shoulder; I'm pointing at Brent's head. I also trust the two dudes in the foreground because they are wearing purity seals. Everyone else is suspect though. Note: the faces have been obscured to protect the innocent and the suspect alike.
While most of us are bourgeois enough to go through life ignoring the scarier implications of existence, Brent is just brave (crazy?) enough to acknowledge his Not Brent. And throw down a gauntlet. As his Sancho Panza this weekend, I get to spend the most time watching Brent tilt windmills. Do I resent his caprice? Most definitely, as does just about everyone who has the misfortune to know him. (What, you’re going to discount my grumblings just because I’m an indentured servant?) But I also get to see a nobility of a mind unfettered with what you and I might call reality. An existential dilemma is one thing; mortal combat with your Bizarro Self is quite another, and something usually only experienced by top competitors, people whose greatest adversaries are themselves. True, they may appear mad to mere mortals like us, but their ways are inscrutable. And in the case of Brent, possibly contagious.
I don't see me in that pic
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