Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves! You're all individuals!Crowd: [in unison] Yes! We're all individuals!Brian: You're all different!Crowd: [in unison] Yes, we are all different!Man in crowd: I'm not...--Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
Yesterday as a group of runners, me included, headed up and over Red Hill and beyond, the discussion turned to our "special qualities", "uniqueness", "eccentricity" even. I thought our apparent eccentricities might be because we knew each other so well and could see each other's "distinct differences". I was reflecting too on how runners are seen by society, e.g. by journalists, as not conforming to what is expected of "normal" people; which journalists both like and dislike; like, because it gives them someone to point the finger at and talk (gossip) about; and dislike, because conforming is promoted as a virtue. It's a funny old world; surely those who lobby for conformity are the ones who are out of step; what a boring place this would be if we were all the same. Bring on eccentricity, I say; we
are all different, yet there can be this inner yearning to be seen as no different from anybody else. We runners have overcome that to a large extent one would have thought; yet you still see groups of runners who follow the same conventions as each other, dress the same as each other, hang out with and enjoy the company of just their little clique, and feel uncomfortable with people who are a little different even within the same training group. Sure, let's have a circle of close friends; but lest it become
too eccentric a circle, let's also rub shoulders with a variety of people from far and from wide.
Pardon me if I didn't conform to an acceptable number of semi-colons in the paragraph above; I am feeling a little off-centre today.
Gary going for silver at Stromlo
Helen excelled at the BBQ Stakes by winning the 6k handicap this week.
Helen also plays a mean cello. How eccentric is that. Go Helen!
