PaulM: I think you have just learned something important about yourself and about art. The more you reflect on this experience, the more you may learn.

Many years ago, I read a book that consisted of many short folktales, collected because (according to the editor's preface) they all had some point to make about human nature or development. They were somewhat like Aesop's fables, but they didn't have explicit "morals" tacked onto them. You had to figure out your own interpretation.

My reaction to the stories varied. Some seemed very profound and wise. Others seemed true but trivial, almost childish. Some baffled me and didn't seem to have any point at all. One story especially annoyed me because the point it seemed to be making was one I regarded as absolutely wrong. Whenever I read a story that I particularly liked, I put a penciled check mark next to its title in the table of contents.

Several years later, I found the book on my bookshelf and decided to read it again. Enough time had passed so that most of the stories seemed "fresh," as if I was reading them for the first time. Again, my reaction to the stories varied a great deal. But guess what! My reaction did not at all correspond to the check marks in the table of contents. Many of the stories that I had previously checked seemed to have moved over to the "true but trivial" category. And many of the stories that I did not check the first time around now seemed especially clever, important, and profound, making me think, "How could I have missed this?"

MORAL: (Well, maybe you'd better figure out your own moral.)