The old ham actor
had struggled through a career of near-misses and flops, always
rationalizing and blaming his way out of repeated failures.
Still, one day
near the end of his career, he managed to land the lead role
in Shakespeare's Hamlet. To his credit, he worked hard and rehearsed
diligently, preparing for opening night. And when it came, he
was ready -- he thought.
But far from
being prepared, he was bad -- terrible, in fact. He fumbled his
lines and played his part with so little feeling and insight
that the audience grew impatient, then surly.
Finally, as he reached the climactic scene, the soliloquy, and
began solemnly to intone, "To be or not to be" audience
members could contain themselves no longer, and suddenly let
loose all their pent-up displeasure. They booed, they hissed,
they threw vegetables at the stage.
At this point, our hero stopped in exasperation. He glared at
the audience across the footlights, then shouted self-righteously,
"For God's sake, I didn't write this crap!"
Draw your
own conclusion.