Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Say Never-Never

Was just browsing through Squidoo.com lenses. . . and stumbled upon Seth Godin' lens, with an excerpt from "Small is the New Big", which counselled businesses to "Do the Never". . .whatever's "always" done. . .don't do.

Okay, fair enough. Obviously, don't go mad and, say, "Okay, Seth, well, all airlines fly. My airline will tunnel underground."

Christ, but I've been an uptight human being lately. Always with the extreme scenarios.

It was very serendipitous that I came across this. . . I used to believe this fervently. Yeah, fervently....... a word I've been too uptight to use of late.

Peter Pan.

Never Never Land. . . .

Say Never-Never used to be my motto.

In fact, when I was 19, I even wrote a not-terrible poem about taking "the nevers and the gnarled forevers" and crushing them "like dead leaves" beneath my feet.

Oooooh, the romance of "dead leaves". Every true romantic knows.

What I've been saying a lot lately is "No More" and "Enough".

All the friggin' play has gone out of my life.

But I am making a mental note about Pan here, and I consider myself on warning...

"Do the Never", counsels Seth Godin.

Okay, so I don't have a product to market and I don't know how, exactly, I'm going to apply this, but I am going to remain conscious of all the ways in which I dutifully mimic the status quo, and without attempting to run an underground airline, I am going to shimmy outside of the box as soon as I identify an opportunity to do so.

Might be kind of hard: I've been stuck in my own counter-productive thought process for waaaaaaayyyy too long. The other night, I was asked if I had lost all sense of wonder. Had to seriously think about that. . .I've gotten so cynical.

Well..... fairy-dust, I suppose.

No one can fly unless the fairy dust has been sprinkled upon them. . . . . and, oh hey, off the top of my head-- what happened to The Lost Boys: "It is sad to have to say that the power to fly eventually left them. . . ."

Well, I don't want to lose that ability. But I've gotta lighten up.

I have to start defying my own mental gravity. You'd think someone as anti-authoritarian as myself would rebel against even my own limiting thoughts?

It is kind of funny that the picture I'm using here is a statue of Peter Pan-- that's practically sacrilegous.

No one could ever capture the spirit of Pan in stone.

But, it's a nice shot, and it was available on Creative Commons, and I didn't want to use a cartoon.

So, here's to paradox, and here's to Never-Never.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely site, Jenn. I am looking forward to seeing it develop. Peter Pan and JM Barrie are both fascinating topics. Have you seen the film 'Finding Neverland'? I remember my mother showing me the statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. I felt on reading Peter Pan again as an adult that it was very allegorical and rather sad. (As you say, how sad about the lost boys forgetting how to fly.)

Anonymous said...

Hi Jenn & Elizabeth,

I found myself reading this one because of the picture. Is this the one Robin Williams found himself under towards the end of the movie "Hook" where he was Peter Pan who grew up and forgot who he was or how to fly. I loved that movie, as he rediscovered the magic and how to fly again...

I saw "Finding Neverland" Elizabeth, did you like it? I don't remember that much about it right now, so I guess it didn't leave that much of an impression on me.

Love,
~Kel

Anonymous said...

Oops... I meant to say, is that the statue that Robin Williams found himself under. ;)

~Kel

Anonymous said...

Wow, Kel, cool, I don't know. . . I love Robin Williams. . .he is one my all-time faves-- man is a genius. . . .

xoxo

Jenn

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