A recycled lifestyle…

Just a quick post to say that I have finally managed to condense & articulate my assorted New Year’s resolutions, thusly:

I have decided to opt out of the Human Race, and join in with the Human Dance!

“Race” implies something that’s competitive by definition; there’s only one winner and lots of losers, and even if I were somehow the winner, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for creating a lot of losers.  It has to be done at breakneck speed and you don’t get time to stop & admire the view, though racing can be fun in its own right. But even if you’re racing as a team, there’s usually a certain amount of jockeying for the top spot – it’s a competitive activity from start to finish.

But  dancing is nearly always a cooperative affair; it can be a slow, stately Pavanne, a lunatic but hugely-enjoyable Fandango, a jolly Strip The Willow or an elegant pas-de-deux. You can’t exactly win at dancing, either – or lose – though I’ll accept that some dances and dancers are better to watch than others. But watching isn’t what it’s all about… 

Anyone can dance, in any mood, anywhere, alone or in company, even in a wheelchair, as one disabled friend points out;  you can dance with just one eyebrow and a wicked grin. In our Western society, we tend to see it as the preserve of the young, and worry that we’ll look ridiculous if we join in, but that’s the “race” mentality taking over; in other societies dancing is for everyone, and so it should be. Dance is an attitude of mind, and so is racing – and most of the time, dancing is much more fun!