Johnny Smith, regular contributor to Universal Consulting Group, completes the Marcel Proust questionnaire.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Surrounded by family, in a warm home.
What is your greatest fear?
Not being able to care for my young son.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Impatience and arrogance. I am working on them always.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Insensitivity and selfishness.
Which living person do you most admire?
I have heard how Nelson Mandela spent decades in prison. Upon leaving he forgave his captors.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Books and music.
What is your current state of mind?
Troubled.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Piety.
On what occasion do you lie?
I believe only to myself. When I do so, it sometimes requires a hardship for me to see the truth again.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
It is a tossup between my nose, my teeth and my neck.
Which living person do you most despise?
I do not think I despise anyone. There are so many awful people in the world that I would not try to choose one.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
I admire calm, peaceful men who know how to do things.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Kindness and good hygiene.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
When asked how I am; “oh, pretty good” and “what a cunt” (I only use that word in the sense of “despicable person” as the English do. I find it distasteful and crude when people use it to name anatomy).
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My son.
When and where were you happiest?
As a young boy on Bowen Island, playing in the forest around my home with my dogs Zena and Cody.
Which talent would you most like to have?
Good timing and rhythm.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
To be unselfish unconsciously. I try hard and I believe I generally succeed at goodness. I believe that I am generally unselfish and do the right thing. But the fact that I am aware of this and am proud of it is not a virtue in my mind. And of course I do not always succeed. The people I admire and respect appear to be genuinely good unconsciously. They simply seem to be that way. They are like flowers in a garden, to my way of thinking.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My healthy, happy, smart and kind son.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Perhaps a killer whale. They are mammals like us, apex predators, very social, with strong family bonds. They also enjoy the privilege of being able to go where they like, usually unmolested. That’s got to be nice.
Where would you most like to live?
In a medium sized, fully detached wooden house with a good back yard for my son and a dog. And in Canada, too. West Vancouver would be nice.
What is your most treasured possession?
The dictionary my grandfather gave me when I was seven years old. In it he wrote “To Johnny, age 7, April, 1976… the Fascination of Words from Grandpop”.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Illness, death or alienation of loved ones.
What is your favourite occupation?
Comic Book editor. Stan Lee has always stood out in my mind as a lucky, lucky man.
What is your most marked characteristic?
I believe it may be sense of duty.
What do you most value in your friends?
Their faithfulness and the contentment I feel when I am with them. And that they like me too!
Who are your favourite writers?
One who I have always loved is Edgar Rice Burroughs. For the last thirty years I am always able to pick up his books and enjoy them. And he wrote so many: fantastic adventure and escape! Ernest Hemingway. I used to love early Wilbur Smith and early Stephen King, when I was growing up. I believe that one of the finest books I have read is “The Captive Mind” by Czesław Miłosz: not the easiest book, but I believe something special to understand. And always George Orwell.
Who is your hero of fiction?
Tarzan. Superman too.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
The character Woody Allen played in many of his movies: Alvy Singer, although I suppose he does not count. Also, I am very sympathetic to Jeremiah.
Who are your heroes in real life?
Muhammad Ali, when he resisted the draft and was stripped of his boxing title. Mahatma Gandhi, who expelled the English without raising a hand. Yusuf Islam.
What are your favourite names?
Ewan, Charlie.
What is it that you most dislike?
Meanness and pettiness. Narrowness of mind.
What is your greatest regret?
Statements that cannot be unsaid, when I was a youth.
How would you like to die?
Some method both swift and unexpected.
What is your motto?
I have none. “All is vanity” is one that I always appreciated, however.