Sunday musings 7/13/14
1) Newbie. “Lovely Daughter” just joined a CrossFit Box! The entirety of Clan bingo now does CrossFit. Every night Mrs. bingo gets a call from “Lovely Daughter” with a report of her WOD, as excited as any and every CrossFit newbie for ever and ever. Mom and Dad are thrilled for you, Megan.
Welcome aboard. Fasten your seatbelt.
2) Somebody. “Aren’t you somebody?” Or even better/worse: “Weren’t you somebody?” In a see and be seen society these questions are asked with great regularity. The asking and the answering are equally amusing.
Both questions are really rather bold and intrusive, don’t you think? What does it even mean to be a someone, anyway? If you ARE a someone what’s it like when somebody sees that you are someone but can’t figure out just who? I can’t imagine anything good about someone remembering that you were once upon a time a someone and aren’t any more.
For whatever it’s worth, I am a C-list someone who can only aspire to becoming a B-list overnight sensation. My anonymity is assured in perpetuity.
3) Goodwill. The memory of good deeds performed or kindnesses extended can be called goodwill. The granting of favors is sometimes called “extending goodwill”, an act that builds up a reservoir of the same. Extending goodwill with no apparent benefit to yourself is kind of like collecting triple value coupons. One who has accumulated goodwill over time can withdraw from that reservoir in times of need.
How long do you think goodwill lasts? Is it a forever thing or is there an expiration date? If it doesn’t last forever is it the kind of thing that just leaks out, kinda like a helium balloon left over from a big party, descending slowly back to earth and then collapsing upon itself? Or maybe it lasts and lasts and lasts, and then POOF, gone. I also wonder if there is a geographic component to the durability and duration of goodwill. You know, kinda like a WiFi signal, 3G or 4G on your cell phone. If you were once in a position to extend some goodwill and there is now some distance between you and whoever, is there still goodwill there upon which you can call? Or does it fade away like an echo left far behind?
Every now and then I think about this a bit. Not because I’m all that concerned that I might need to call in a goodwill chit some day, or that somehow I might not get some kind of payback or owezee. No, it’s more about being remembered, I think. Not the goodwill so much. Me. I guess when I wonder about goodwill, whether it lasts, if it weathers both distance and time, I’m thinking of whether any goodwill I might have built up is enough for people to remember me.
Am I still someone, or did I just used to be someone.
I’ll see you next week…
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