Sunday Journal, 7-8-01, 510 words
Side-Stepping Seriousness
By Dalton Roberts
IPS Features
Life
grabs us by the hair of our head and crams seriousness down out throat
sometimes. Like when we or people close to us have accidents, get sick, stick a
splinter in a finger or a big bear invades our campsite.
One
of the strangest truths of this life is that the longer we remain in
seriousness, the more devastating will be the experience. Further, the less
creative we will be in recovering from it. Seriousness is that deadly.
Why?
Because it freezes the brain in morbidity, not to mention what it does t our
glandular systems that control our mental and physical health.
Long
ago, I made up my mind to avoid it as far as possible and the good news is that
most of it can be avoided altogether. Most of it is imposed upon us by a silly
society that wants us to take it seriously. You absolutely cannot take this
place seriously. It is a turkey farm and we are only here to learn how to walk
in the rain without upturning our face and getting drowned.
Just
tune into C-Span (on second thought, don't ever do it when you are feeling
serious) when they have the Senate carrying on live and watch the fawning and
preening and posturing. Now that I've warned you, tune in and watch it and
pretend that all of them are wearing clown suits.
This
also works in court and at PTA meetings when they are reading the minutes or
giving the treasurer's report.
Side-step
seriousness any way you can and maximize your fun by inventing as many ways as
possible, besides the clown technique, to comb it out of your life.
REVISING
YOUR ACT
Playing
a rockabilly festival in Mississippi I came to see that we are always revising
our act and it is necessary for us to become aware of what our chosen act is
going to be at each point in our life.
I
hadn't touched my old Fender Telecaster in so long the strings were rusty. So I
got it out, re-strung it, and tried to revive all those rockabilly licks I once
knew so well. Licks and tricks have a way of escaping us when we don't use them
in a while.
It
had been a long while since I'd used them. Since 1990, I have mainly done a
one-man storytelling, picking and grinning show emphasizing original songs. Not
with an electric Telecaster but with a flattop guitar.
I
love many kinds of music. But that doesn't mean I can play all styles equally
well at all times. And at this stage of my life, I love a simple acoustic guitar
and doing my one-man thing with it.
Think
about your act (whatever you do is your act). Are you in a rut? Trying to do
something you've lost interest in? Unable to find time to experiment with
something that really interests you? Is it time to make some changes – to
revise your act?
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