Writer's Notebook

This Week’s Theme: Write a story, poem, or essay from the point of view of an inanimate object. Allseeing is allknowing. That's what humans say. But maybe we should examine this premise a little closer. True, a CCTV camera sees, if not everything, then most things. That must make him pretty ominiscient, possibly even a rival to God. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't want to set myself up as a rival to God. Have people get up early every Sunday morning just to sing my praises has always been tempting; or to have them pray to me five times a day without fail. I must say I'm not to keen on this fasting business; I love the occasional snack of celluloid, and can't work without a regular source of energy from somewhere. But then, if I'm God, I wouldn't have to fast. The problem is if humans set me up as God on the basis that seeing everything, I know everything, then I'd have to live up to that expectation. And I'm not sure that I can. Take a case a friend of mine came up agaist, last week. He was adjudicating at a sports game and the referee needed his help. Well, he saw everything exactly as it had happened. He saw a man run with the ball, cross the line and then there was an enormous struggle. Eventually, a hand appeared and pushed the ball to the ground. No doubt, about that. But whose hand was it? To which team did it belong? My friend had no idea, but the referee insisted he made a decision. After all, he had seen precisely what had happened. Of course, he won himself a lot of friends by his decision, but a lot of enemies too. Then, they say, the camera can't lie. But pictures only ever give one particular perspective. From the other side, things may look totally different. Perhaps Julius Caesar would have survived his assassination, had he had a camera, but only if it was positioned so as to see what his assailant had behind his back or under his toga. So by all means, give credit where credit is due. Give us praise. We do deserve it! But please, leave off the divine stuff. We too are all too fallible.
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