What would Keith Richards do_ - Jessica Pallington West [14]
WHAT WOULD KEITH DO?
Let’s just go into the darkness on this one.
Jesus had Judas.
Keith had “Spanish Tony” Sanchez.
Imagine having a trusted drug dealer for years, and then he ups and leaves, goes away for a little while, and reemerges with a long, tell-all book complete with photographs and footnotes.
Say the word Judas and everyone knows what you’re talking about. The guy spawned a million imitators. The Judas experience is unfortunately far too common. You don’t see the knife coming. And when the stab comes, it’s like a cold shower coming out of nowhere. Turning the other cheek is not necessarily the best choice. And the Judases of the world need to know this. It shouldn’t be so easy to get away with. Turning the other cheek is the last thing to do. Why get hit twice? Why fuck up your skin? Why give a Judas that option?
In this case, luckily, you have the cosmic universe working on your side as an assistant. Judases rarely win. It’s just part of the laws of nature. Part of the cosmic order. It might take some time, but they always trip in the end. It’s just a matter of time. And as anyone who has gone cold turkey once or twice can tell you: Time is the greatest healer. The Judas experience included.
First, once you pull the knife out of your back and wipe off the blood, accept that the secret is out. Nothing you can do to reel it back in. But the option you do have is what you’re going to do with Judas, or to Judas. The obvious choice of a sock in the jaw isn’t necessary. It’s not worth the health of your fingers.
When Keith met up with Sanchez after the book Up and Down with the Rolling Stones was published, Keith didn’t punch him out. Instead he showed him a new gun he’d bought. “I haven’t seen him since.” It wasn’t a threat. It was the use of the Keithism “There’s always the future.” Keith showed him a ghost in a felt-lined case. Translated: Someone will come and get you, Tony, at some point. There’s always the future. You just don’t know where or when. It’s the reason why that first Judas couldn’t stop running, and went mad.
You don’t need to go as far as Keith did and pull out the weapons. It’s just a matter of letting them know, or more important, letting yourself know, that the future is always there, that the seasons change, and that eventually the numbers do even out. Just knowing this will act as a sedative. And if your Judas has a ghostwriter, that’s even better. When Keith ran into Spanish Tony’s ghostwriter, John Blake, at a wedding, and approached him about “that book,” he got to see the image of a fleeing, running-for-the-wilderness Judas. Getting to watch a Judas flee from a wedding, pushing the bride out of the way, tripping over the cake, is worth the cost of the experience.
Don’t be afraid of your Judas. Don’t be afraid of those who are cruel and vindictive. As Keith has said about dealing with the demon: “If you confront him, then he’s out of a job."
IV. WHY NOT ME?
Or: Being Passed Over For Honors
That Go To Others
It feels good when you believe in yourself and tell yourself you will get what you deserve—that good things will come if you wait.
But sometimes it doesn’t quite work out that way. Or at least not when you want it to. It’s that little problem of watching good things go to others and not to you. Translated: You’re passed over.
It can happen in any number of situations and scenarios: at home, in relationships, in love, at work.
Let’s examine it close-up in the scenario of work:
You’ve been passed over for a promotion. It was given to the idiot one cubicle over. When something like this happens, your initial reaction may be to burn down the cubicle dividers or the drapery in the boss’s office, or to pick the