THE SUM OF ALMOST EVERYTHING

One of the great things about not being great is that you don’t leave much of a footprint anywhere. At 65 years of age, self-reflection leads to an almost ‘inert’ current status. In fact, over those entire six and a half decades the dashboard controls have probably been fixed on the same settings. The journey has featured minor meanderings, a couple of unscheduled turns that were fairly quickly accommodated and a general movement in the direction of the grand arrow. And that’s about it. As the abyss begins to take on a recognisable form, predictability and familiarity have, so far, been key factors in the process.

In keeping with all this ordinariness, my profile includes-

•       having a ‘role model’-free physique. Nothing in my social, physical and emotional domains lends itself for copying or emulation by others.
•          a benign attitude towards other punters. I figure that most citizens are just like me and should be painted with the same brush…at least in theory. Race, religion and politics don’t really come into it. That’s not to say that arguments, controversies and comparing the sizes of genitals don’t occur but the former platform is the one that’s most inhabited.
•       an acceptance that all the important action lies in the here and now. Unbelievable as it may sound, Ronald Reagan once said that too many people ‘…cling to a stale past.’ It’s one of the few things that I’d quote him on and what a bottler. Unfortunately, the present is often relegated to the back stalls by politicians, boomers and reactionaries alike. This adoration of the past lies at the centre of many of the problems confronting Australia today. But that’s another topic for an upcoming blog entitled Longshore drift. Get bloody excited.

Clowns, of course, appear occasionally to provide editorials on your credentials and performance. Thankfully, this has only occurred a few times with me. I can remember about five years ago someone I’ve known for a long time- amounting to decades- ‘value adding’ to my perceptions of self-worth by sensitively disclosing ‘We were very worried about you finding a life-partner back in the early eighties.’ I always loved the shield of ‘We’ that was employed to give the awareness-raiser some authenticity and gravity. Intent can never be camouflaged and stupidity is instantly tagged. If you saw the unit that uttered the pick-me-up, you’d only shake your head in disbelief at the denial and hypocrisy.

Another cracker revealed itself on a recent trip to the nation’s capital when a fellow traveller- previously unknown to me- suggested that my political views were crudely fashioned around my career as a teacher. This dope backed up the heroic stereotyping by completing the left/ right combo jabs with the impressive ‘……and I studied at Sydney University.’ Game over? Well, not quite.

The problem with such clowns is that they’re always attracted to something shiny, like a crate of used bottle tops. One thing I have learnt is that narcissism and entitlement go hand in hand. Just as importantly, entitlement is far more of a commodity than it is a process or a profile. Nothing leads to it and it’s solely the user who assumes the position of superiority and feebly grasps at any opportunity to pontificate. The ‘cultured’ and ‘educated’ higher ground houses a delusion which is routinely shared by these fools. Their default strategy is to underestimate. Perhaps marginalising is the only skill that they possess…….. if you can call it a skill.

‘One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalised and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.’ (Michael J. Fox)

The fact that I’ve referenced both Fox and Reagan is a cause for personal concern. Didn’t both play roles slightly to the right of Fred Nile?