Written November 11, 2007:
Get real, Live a little
It's late on a Thursday afternoon, I’m
standing next to the Frigo café with some friends, exchanging lightning
peals of witty banter over fashion faux pas’, when the subject of shoes
comes up, and the question of whether to Jesus slop, or not to Jesus
slop, is posed. Inoocent enough question, but the answers to such
everyday conundrums can be quite enlightening… The comment came out of
nowhere, and went a little something like this, “I didn’t wear my pair
today ‘coz my feet smell!” all delivered with a wry smile that quickly
slides into a huge grin.The sporadic outburst, which should have
triggered reactions like “gross” or “siff” in any other context was a
simple but powerful show of comfortability within ones’ self and
surroundings. Kinda like being able to fart unashamedly in front of a
(girl)friend; it shows a certain reckless abandon, the kind we somehow
managed to lose between blissful childhood and those angst-riddled
teenage years.
I mean think about it, how many people would you
be comfortable letting rip around? What proportion of that group is of
the opposite sex? See what I mean? We’ve all somehow become so self
conscious that we’ve accepted the social farce of living behind screens
and masks, unable to cast aside our inhibitions. We act within the
bounds of norms and schema’s of acceptable social behaviour, constantly
examining ourselves in case of existential 'open-fly’s' or un-tucked
shirt tails. Now if you’re lucky, you’ll find a group of people with
whom you feel completely and unreservedly at home, yourself; more than
accepted. These are what a good friend of mine refers to as the family
we are free to choose for ourselves. The only thing I think really
limiting the range of this type of social transaction is the level of
stigma being attributed to being/behaving in a improper manner, not in
entirely sync with the rest of society; in some way sticking out. If
people pretended less and just, were, more, how much easier would it be
to find and get to know people of like mind and heart?
These
people with whom this connection is forged at a chemical level obeying
rules of a soul-ore metallurgy we haven’t even begun to conceptualise,
can be summed up in a simple yet direct analogy; Peanut Butter People.
I’ll explain; any one who has sat down on a Saturday morning, all set
for a monster cartoon marathon with a jar of that good brown stuff and a
spoon knows what I’m talking about. The first spoonful seems to explode
in your mouth as a taste sensation your palate has been voraciously
anticipating; you lean back contentedly, may even sigh appreciatively at
the evident genius behind the creation of your favourite Xtra-crunchy
variety. Next comes the arduous task of chewing, not so easy to do with a
substance that isn’t exactly either solid or liquid, and swallowing all
that goodness, as much pleasure as a pain in the neck, washing it all
down with the mandatory gulp from a glass of full cream milk. Wow! Your
palate tells, you, let’s do that again!
This is how I imagine
your soul feels when you’re in the company of the people I earlier
related as the family you choose for yourself. Always great to have
around, sometimes make that imaginary mute-button in the air above their
head seem a genius idea, but always there for a quiet retreat into the
times in our minds when we didn’t give two rocks what the world thought;
we were with friends and that was all that mattered. Peanut Butter
People.
Feeling a hankering for Peanut Butter…? Then go out there
and find yourself some! But first, get real! Come to accept yourself
with all your character flaws and bad habits. Learn to love everything
bout yourself, even the quirky if not down right freaky idiosyncrasies
you keep getting ragged off about. Once that’s done, finding people on
the same wavelength as you will be as easy as drawing water downhill.
Always challenge yourself, do at least thing that scares the bejaysus
out of you, everyday!
"Just
let go! It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do
anything, be anyone… I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I
say let... lets evolve!" - Tyler Durden
Really think about an answer before you give
it, try to listen more than you speak, push the insecurity out onto the
periphery, and just… Be.
Peace and Love
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