Umbrellas Unopent in Tempests, Part XXXVII

Rebellious and uncompromising: the question was what Guest being nude contributed to this, if anything; and whether, ultimately, the question itself was rebellious and uncompromising or led back into the false dichotomy of freedom OR determinism. (Please note: the framing of the question in this way, this form, is deliberate: it has been eating at Itwethey’s conscience that he had placed “openness” in a direct relationship to “hypersensitivity to hypocrisy”, understood as a process of making thought very slippery, without being able to remove the slipperiness enough to elucidate what was meant—Itwethey still won’t, but take the form of this first sentence as illustrative.)

Rebellious and uncompromising: the fluidity of “openness” tended to give Itwethey the feeling it was entirely compromised, an endless compromise. Rebellious? Only if an annoying indirectness can be so called . Itwethey is keenly aware wafer thin closeness of his sympathetic greeting of Guest is to this, too.

People protest by getting nude; people have been humiliated by a command to be nude. 1 “In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it— 2 at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot. 3 Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame. 5 Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be dismayed and put to shame. 6 In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’” (Isaiah 20)

Guest will remain nude for three years? In preparation, Itwethey will need to stock up on Nivea skin cream. Wouldn’t want Guest to take on a weathered look; the supreme softness and excellence of Guest’s skin and hair must be preserved, on even the lowest standard of hospitality—and of course, Itwethey is attempting for the highest. Itwethey loves to look and what Itwethey wants (and perhaps this is what Guest demands, but so far Itwethey can’t guess this) and must find, is a loving look. We don’t yet know--Itwethey doesn’t know—whether Guest’s nudity is voluntary, based on some decision or assessment—or is cruel and cold Itwethey’s flinching away from, retreat from, the “bid welcome” intended. (In other words, forced on Guest by Itwethey and typical of Itwethey's inconsideration for the feelings of others.) We do know Guest’s arrival is fortuitous, involuntary, unintended, probably a mistake, not a destination determined by Guest, or wanted by Guest. (Arrival by Guest in such manner is intended and determined by Itwethey.) In some strange way, Guest’s present nudity either doubles, or reverses, or is symmetrical to, or affirms, or loves, or through effort of will accepts, Guest’s strange arrival.