Passage through
the space between
the clouds and
I'm thinking about
traditions and why
people cling to
success and belonging
and wanting to belong
I wrote a song about that once:
"You want to belong,
I say be strong
You stand apart,
you're stealing my heart"
I watch the American conservatives
at their convention and I see many many
people who find their place in life by
learning all the rules and playing the
game of success and tradition and belonging
I wonder why I could never play that game
though I sometimes try but it's kind of
like playing chess with a set of checkers
We are vertebrates, born with our bones
on the inside
and have no shells
3 comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhvRQyRdVEI
I recently read a book about how playing games are the sole 'unit of analysis' if you will, meaning that that is all we do, play games.
Playing games = survival.
So whatever game you want to play, it is still a game, whether the game of success, or the game of non-success, whatever the case.
Some people are better at certain games than others.
I am lucky in that I have found a game that I am good at and that pays the bills.
And in the end, my approach is:
1. Work hard.
2. Find your passion.
3. The money will come.
Call me lucky, call me naive, but it has generally worked for those that surround me.
And I'm also curious, why is 'success,' 'tradition,' and 'belonging' such a bad thing?
I for one feel I have some semblance of success, but I definitely balk in the face of tradition, unless of course it is Jesuit tradition, heh, and I definitely have a hard time belonging, meaning I have spent a lot of emotional nrg understanding that I will never belong in any traditional sort of way, I, by definition, am a relative outsider.
Yet I still think that if belonging is what you seek, good on you, life will eat you if you take that too seriously, as it will if you take tradition and success too seriously.
Flow with the punches I say, flow.
I never said they were bad things, just that I find it hard to put them to work for me. When I see people for whom they do seem to work I sometimes feel like I am looking at a different species of animal.
As I write this I'm in Fort MacMurray, which is a hot spot for people wanting a fast ride to the top. I always feel very out of place and uneasy here, like I'm on Mars or something. I just don't get it, that's all. But I don't get a lot of things.
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