What chord does the beat of your drum strike? Do you stop to think about the tune of your thump, your drum? Do other people tell you, "(wo)man, you sure do march to the beat of your own drum." Depending on the context it can be complimentary or insulting, but for those not completely self-involved it's possible to remain thoughtful and march independently. Those whom crave individuality may even consider it a term of endearment - "You're darn right I march to the beat of my own drum."
As an aside, I was recently reminded of another name for this idiom - "As You know Bob..."
"As you know Bob, the table-saw did rid 3 of the 5 digits from their home just North West of my left palm...and they haven't grown back yet; so no I can't whistle with my two pointer fingers." OR "As you know Bob, the cast on my left foot is keeping me from running the Stoney River Half-Marathon this weekend." OR "As you know Bob, turning off the lights when you leave a room is a great way to save energy."
Sometimes the stating of 'the obvious' is anything but obvious to the preacher.
We all dance, walk and talk to the beat of our own drum (some more than others) but as the idiom would have us believe, there is an indulgence to marching to the beat of our own drum. I understand how and why this idiom snuggled its way in to our syntax but for the sake and context of this post I'll disagree. It's alright to dance to the beat of our own drum; for some it's lifeblood.
So what if your drum is a dog whistle - undetectable to humans? Like the time your old friend James asked you if you liked 'The Notebook' and your guileless response included a small tear, goosebumps and "yeah man, to be honest I absolutely loved it, especially the part when they row through the bayou." Only to be swiftly tea-bagged, straight-arm pointed and laughed at. Friends and complete strangers can be cruel, shitty human beings and following the thump of your own drum with a little too much loyalty is as sure a trigger-happy finger as any.
Speaking of shitty people - A couple weeks ago I pedaled, front and rear lights blinking, to a concert. As a preface I usually loop my rear, red bike-light, to the tailbone belt-loop. As a self-proclaimed Jedi Warrior-Of-The-Road I pride myself in obeying the rules of the road, waving with hand, head or eye to fellow bikers and pedestrians and always anticipate flow of traffic and stray car doors.
Arriving alone I stood in the slow, fidgety, tight-panted-line of "pre-ticket-holding" concert goers. Proud of the hiding spot for my friends' smokeable medicine I was anxious to make my way through the PG13 pat down. This took no longer than 5 minutes and after chin-up, tip-toe wandering and ordering a beer I felt a tap on my shoulder. Hoping the tap to be my friend I was surprised by a pleasant woman (notably less 'hip' than the majority of the crowd), and she asked, "do you know you have a blinking red light on your butt?"
Somehow I managed to cloak my embarrassment and thank the kind woman as much with my eyes as with the words I uttered. Before leaving her be I mention how silly I felt for walking (blinking) around the club for 10 minutes. The kind lady shrugged, pursed and said, "yeah, people are shitty." Hmm...
Finicky as I am with my beliefs I hate to lump the (m)asses, make sweeping generalizations and/or take a confident stance on something bold as calling 'people' shitty, but it's true; they are. Since that night I've mentioned this happening to a few people and the responses, as you'd expect, varied. As far as social arm wrestling goes this issue brought out the, omnipresent to all group discussions, devil's advocates and levelheaded, fact-checking listeners alike. I'll suffice it to say some sided with the crowd and some with the kind lady.
Me...? I'm still convinced, and party to the kind lady, as I was that night with our affirmation, "people are shitty." Stop for a second...strip yourself of self-involvement...think not of the potential consequences to come of revealing flaws in complete strangers...and put yourself in a gathering of people; some familiar, some strange, some more hip than hop and decide; would you have called out the blinking light?
Hmmm? Have I thought this through...?
Now that I think of it..what's wrong with having a little fun at the expense of someone else? Maybe I wouldn't have said anything. I can't believe that kind woman would so readily squash the 'little fun' of all the people whom decidedly kept their lips sealed and let me and my fashion statement procure the laughter, if not smirking, of all.
That was a bit of a 180 eh? I guess it's refreshing and comforting to be without control sometimes. Vulnerability, conscious or not, generally attracts a natural way of things unlike stale, constricting behaviour. So what if I was walking around like, what some might call, a fool. Before the show I knew 3 of 500 people at the concert and save the kind lady the ratio changed none after the show - blinking light or not. I'm no worse off today than pre-concert and I've gained a funny story.
Thanks to the kind lady for prolonging the battery-life in my bike light but next time don't fret the depths of the sea of laughter...at my expense or not.
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