Johnny D. Symon
March 21, 2008
Life: from here to absurdity
By Johnny D. Symon

Since I've been out of the usual fray lately, and heavily involved in another fray elsewhere, I failed to write an ed last week. It's not due to there being no food for thought in Spain, there's been plenty of that for sure, it's just that I had no time to lay it all out.

Prior to the election both sides of the political fence were digging up dirt to throw at each other, and supporters from both sides busied themselves with this also. Each accusation was delivered with the appearance of extreme earnest, yet only days after the final result each and every accusation, together with it's deliverers, disappeared without trace. The calm after the storm, so to speak. Therefore, with all that's said and done on Spain's general election, and the Socialist loons preparing to juice Spain for a further 4 years, my back and my interest remained turned in another direction.

For those of you who can sit idly back to boast of the fact that you've never been outside of your home State, let alone your home country, I have to point out that I always am. Most times I live and work around people who can't speak my native tongue, yet I can speak theirs. A language that's alive, grows and matures with it's users and abusers. Language is fashioned by the people, and people get affected, and or influenced, by the world surrounding them.

Over the past few years I've noted a strong trend in Spain introducing South American Spanish and even North American English, such as "okay" in place of "vale." It's now common to hear terms I personally hate, like "chill out," and "fashion victim." And with Spain's ongoing crusade to foster the "Alliance of Nations" and "multiculturalism" I recently watched a black African on TV singing Flamenco. Somehow his tone of voice did not fit into this musical style, but I reminded myself that one way or another the human mind tends to gradually alter that which at first appears absurd, and as time goes on the absurd becomes acceptable, normal even. Then when those of us who have experienced this gradual acclimatization finally accept the absurd to be normal, and an outsider arrives to experience this for the first time, then even if he's African himself, he'd no doubt adopt our first thoughts on the matter. That man or woman would most likely say, "It's absurd. It doesn't work. It don't sound right!" and I reckon that if this selfsame African heard me try to sing Pokot folk-songs, his previous view would be the same but stronger still!

When I was a kid an old dude came visiting, and the first thing I noticed about him was his eyebrows. Those things seemed to have a life of their own, and not only that, but they had a shape of their own too. I guess, with long hindsight, this boy had been twisting and waxing them until they all became one, growing out long, wide, and up his temples like horns. When I first saw this I clearly recall that I was puzzled; "Why were they so long? Why didn't he go to have those things professionally treated?" And finally I thought that he must have a different view of himself to the one I held, "Why was that?" I wondered.

But as time rolled on, and his eyebrows continued growing out and up to even greater levels of absurdity, I found his own personal idiosyncrasy less and less apparent, though I have to admit that my mind's eye did not make them disappear completely, for although I had become acclimatized to them, a still small voice inside my head said, "Well that's okay, but let's not forget that he made them that way himself, so you'd best watch out because he may be hiding something inside that could jump out at any moment. What you see could be the tip of an eyebrowberg!"

I guess as life rolls on, most of us remain clearly unaware of the fact that we've become bilingual, even if we speak solely our mother tongue. We become masters at speaking our native language while also practicing another language, the language of the body, body language. For me, to learn the language of the tongue is simple compared to the language of the body, because body language works differently to different people types. My body language alters in respect of the other's nationality, age, sex, or even infirmity, therefore I reckon that body language is really a language pack.

Bearing this in mind, I'm not trying to disregard the fact that some national tongues are heavily divided into two sexes; Japanese is a prime example. To learn that language it's advisable to be aware that there's a male version and a female version, so if you're male and get taught the wrong way you'll raise some laughs as you set down in Tokyo.

When the Bible states that "man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart," it's like a challenge to do likewise, but there are limitations. Sometimes the heart of a person is reflected on the outside in ways most worthy of note ... lets include eyebrows in this ... and if some night you catch a boy in dance shoes and pink leotard jabbing at your tires with a sharp blade, then rest assured that what you see physically is based on something just that little bit deeper.

Back in 19th century England an art critic and social observer named John Ruskin gave fair warning when he said;

"There is hardly anything in the world that
someone can't make a little worse and sell
a little cheaper ... and people who consider
price alone are this man's lawful prey."

Maybe John Ruskin intended to include nations also in this warning, I reckon he had that in mind. The Alliance of Nations, multiculturalism, globalism, etc., are another example of "outward appearance" with a deeper aspect. Recent events involving China and Tibet are fair warning also. Which brings me back to the point of writing this ed in the first place;

Since John Ruskin's day the Western world has continued to get worse and cheaper. We've all consented to become some man's lawful prey because we failed to take note of his tongue and body language. I'm someone who understands a whole lot more about the world and it's peoples than politicians, and I also know a whole lot more about the inner workings of politicians than they do, thank God!

© Johnny D. Symon

 

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