Monday, July 27, 2009

Quirky Pride

Our room looks out from high above the Hudson River. We are here in New York City to do some work over the next couple of days. We love the city, we love the energy that pulses down the street, we love the endless cavalcade of people who flow by. They have made some huge changes since we were last here. Broadway is closed for several blocks and they have put out some lawn chairs for people to sit on. Indeed. How cool. Joe pulled one up beside me and sat and we watched for a bit.

For awhile I was so caught by all the individual uniqueness that the whole concept of prejudice became absurd and impossible. No one was even slightly like the person next to them. Taken as a whole our species seems to be about creating individual's that are just 'off' the norm, some by a smidge, some by a dash, and, of course, some by a dollop. Our combined difference is what we seem to have in common.

Believe it or not I found sitting in my wheelchair, hugely fat, quietly gay, that I was as close to the norm as the next guy - which is, not very. Even those who tried to look 'normal' and 'dress' normal you could see oddness in their eyes. Really. Odd.

How do you lump together with others to hate even others when we all carry around our uniquenesses whether we like to or not. It's like there is this massive denial of how odd we are. Like we can only be friendly with, associate with, others that can create an illusion that we are all 'in' and they are all 'out'. To be sure we saw people hanging around, all of the same race, but what an odd unifier. Cause each of them was wildly different from the other. In shape. In make. In temperment. In gait. Really.

I think we should declare a day a year where we all just embrace our uniqueness and twtich and waddle, lumber and sprint, wiggle and roll, down the street in a massive demonstration of personal weirdness.

There would be Tee Shirts like:

I fart when I walk.

and

I like to bounce my balls while I wait for my wife.

and

I walk like I have a stick up my ass BECAUSE I have a stick up my ass.

I can just envision the day. No one on the street to watch. Everyone on the street in a massive demonstration of the unity that can come from admitting to, and embracing, difference.

12 comments:

wendy said...

Now you've got me pondering which of my oddnesses I'd declare on my t-shirt! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Me too!

Dave you are so funny :-)

I'm not sure what I'd put on my t-shirt, I am thinking though, that I may need a whole wardrobe of T-shirts. I can just imagine the dilema of what one to choose to wear on the day LOL!

Laura x

..al said...

Hmmm..great food for thought...

Won't fall asleep if the slippers are kept wrong


That would be funny.


ICLW

Fiddle1 said...

I think my shirt would read "I hunt, but I collect china too." That always strikes people as odd. Super post. A great post to meet you. Added you to my blogroll.

ICLW

Amy said...

Love this!

My t-shirt would say: Superklutz!

(My body has a magentic attraction for hard surfaces like doorways, table corners, walls, and the ground.)

Anonymous said...

"has silent but deadly Farts"

Liddy said...

Oooh good one.

I am a competitive speedskater. So I get comments about my huge thighs and butt from people who don't know me. My favorite was an older women who told me I wouldn't pick up a man.

I think my t-shirt would say, "I love my huge ass."

Stopping by for an ICLW visit...
No. 95: The Unfair Struggle (male-factor infertility, good friends, neighborhood rumblings)

Kristin said...

What a fabulous post. I have no idea what idiosyncratic behavior I would print on my t-shirt for the world to see. I have far too many to chose from.

Karyn said...

reminds me of a t-shirt I saw yesterday- It said something along the lines of "you are unique (just like everyone else)"
Pondering what my t-shirt would say

CJ said...

My husband once found a T-shirt for me in Reno. It said:

"If I was nicer, I'd be a bitch."

Lol. Just got back from San Antonio, Texas and my son's graduation from air force boot camp. Had a great time.

Princeton Posse said...

My t-shirt might read "Well-behaved women rarely make history" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. I have the bumper sticker.

Eb said...

I'm such a big fan of the telling t-shirt.
I've been contemplating making a, "Hell on Wheels. (watch your heels)" t-shirt for a woman I support. My quiet, seemingly conservative husband has one that says "Bedroom Gangster." Mine reads, "Cries before impact."