Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Everybody's Beautiful In Their Own Way

Sometime ago I discovered Ian Hutson's blog.  I wasn't so overly impressed with the one on that first day - it was about some old house I couldn't relate to.   But then I happened to read his instructions on commenting on his blog.  I knew then I liked this Englishman.  His later blogs proved my instincts right.  He touched that part of my mind that is often hidden and hard to reach - that part that holds all wonderful and fanciful and fantasy things...and Hobbits

He didn't talk about Hobbits per se but rather just talked in a Hobbitty way.  Instead he called me Grasshopper and talked about strange creatures and their habits.  He disparaged the use of the word "with" in favor of "wiv," which I'm sure he picked up from conversing with the Hobbits.    So now I, Grasshopper, will get on wiv it.

I thought about chubby little guys with big furry feet, wearing big red hats and jolly as can be.  I saw them running  in meadows seeking berries and all such as nature provides.  And eating six meals a day as their minimum fare.  And afterwards, when pleasantly full, they'd push back those big brimmed hats and light their corn cob pipes and tell tales of adventure.

And just what am I getting at here?  Madame Weebles has written a blog about people being mean and ugly.  Never mind the reason.  Read her blog if you want to know.  There's always an excuse for people being ugly and some excuse beats none.  I guess.

All of this - fantasy and Hobbits and people looking different from each other - has got me to thinking about people accepting others.  If you let your mind wander a bit and imagine what it could be like sometime in the future, we are hardly different at all.  For someday some of us will be Hobbits and others will choose other forms.

Date:  June 15, 3715
The Human Reform Clinic, Gene Reconstruction Division, Human Form Section, Human Cat Form Unit
Name:  Inkoderp  1123
Justification (In as few words as possible, tell us why you want to change your human form into our human/cat prototype.)

I am now a little over 533 years old.  I have explored the range of human emotion such as there is to explore.  I am beautiful, all my friends are beautiful, all their friends are beautiful.  Damn it!  Even my enemies are beautiful.  My every human need is provided for with inconsequential effort.  My entertainment is satisfying and absorbing but I'm missing something in my life.  I yearn to know, to understand in some small way what the old ones lived with every day of their lives.

I want to look different from everyone else and not a different version of pretty - really different.  I want to know what hunger is and have to worry about my safety.

I need this HumanCatForm because I will to travel to one of the distant planets where ancient and vicious creatures still live.  To arrive there in human form I would either die or be forced to use weapons and tech that would make it no challenge.  In cat form, my speed and strength and agility will allow me to hunt for food and search the vegetation in a most challenging way.  I will fight and survive or I will die but I will know what it is to live again.

12 comments:

Tara Tyler said...

a thoughtful post on perspective and acceptance. ian is great! i love reading from other pov's. all knowledge is a blessing even if i dont agree with the message.

David Oliver said...

Thanks for stopping by Tara. Also, thanks for the comment. Not everyone can appreciate an argument they disagree with. To me that shows an open mind and is an admirable quality.

The Owl Wood said...

I can't stretch my mind around the human race, we're such an odd contradiction. We like continuity and security but we change everything, we're all loners and individuals but we huddle together - and then fight. We hate criticism but we love criticising. It's endless!

David Oliver said...

How right you are. It seems we are far removed from the ancients and the medievals and the colonials. But how did we get here with all this headwind? Still we've got a long way to go in this enlightened society and it is good to keep in mind what we're up against.

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

You're very thought-provoking, David. What I'm thinking is this:
Love + support - (competition + hate) = utopia.

xoRobyn

David Oliver said...

Robyn, I think you are on to something here. We do compete all the time for affection, recognition, money and probably other things I haven't thought of. I'm pretty sure that's caused plenty of hatred. Would be good if we could minus that out of our lives.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Think how unsatisfying it would be if we all looked the same, acted the same, thought the same...
There is a place where we won't have to worry about the hate, but that's not here. Not yet anyway.

David Oliver said...

Yes Alex, this is very true. And it relates to what Ian said about human nature being contradictory. Little kids will ostracize the one who is different. Adults do it too, just not as obviously. At same time if an oddball achieves celebrity status, he is celebrated for the fact he is different.

There is something else I thought about last night. I think accepting people as equals in society and not insulting them is not the same thing as approval for their actions or how they live their lives. It is saying simply they have the same right to be here and enjoy their life as everyone else.

Should Fish More said...

Now I've got that damn song playing in my head. Thanks.........

David Oliver said...

You're welcome. :)

I had given up anyone noticing where the name of the blog came from.

Chris said...

One of the reasons I wanted to change to my current career was to regain some of my imagination. This post was a good reminder of that. I need that sometimes.

David Oliver said...

Thanks Chris. I appreciate you telling me that. I had more doubts than normal before I hit the publish button on this one.

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