Pádraic Súilleabháin
Do you know what you used to be?
Colm Doherty
No, what did I used to be?
Pádraic Súilleabháin
Nice! You used to be nice! And now, do you know what you are? Not nice.
Colm Doherty
Ah, well, I suppose niceness doesn't last then, does it? But will I tell ya something that does last?
Pádraic Súilleabháin
What? And don't say somethin' stupid like music.
Colm Doherty
Music lasts.
Pádraic Súilleabháin
Knew it!
Colm Doherty
And paintings last. And poetry lasts.
Pádraic Súilleabháin
So does niceness.
Colm Doherty
Do you know who we remember for how nice they was in the 17th century?
Pádraic Súilleabháin
Who?
Colm Doherty
Absolutely no one. Yet we all remember the music of the time. Everyone, to a man, knows Mozart's name.
Pádraic Súilleabháin
Well, I don't, so there goes that theory. And anyway, we're talkin' about niceness. Not what's his name. My mammy, she was nice. I remember her. And my daddy, he was nice. I remember him. And my sister, she's nice. I'll remember her. Forever I'll remember her.
Colm Doherty
And who else will?
Pádraic Súilleabháin
Who else will what?
Colm Doherty
Remember Siobhan and your niceness? No one will. In 50 years' time, no one will remember any of us. Yet the music of a man who lived two centuries ago...
