Why do we shrink from absolute honesty, from absolute love, from absolute perfection? Why are we put off by excellence? Because excellence demands excellence. Perfection demands perfection. Honesty demands honesty.
It's easier for us to love things that are imperfect. Closer to imperfection. Because we do not have too much to live up to. We love them hoping that even our imperfections will be overlooked in a silent mutual forgiving.
And in these secret escapes Mediocrity is born. Don't we find it so much easier, comfortable being around people who are mediocre, almost entirely honest, somewhat talented, fairly hardworking? In fact we will mostly end up having a pretty good time with them.
It's almost always more difficult to handle people who are very nice, honest, infallible, true to their word, totally in control of their selves. Even when they don't say anything we know in our wicked little minds that they are better. That neither do we have the will nor the patience to live up to them. We are ill-at-ease, worried that we will end up doing or saying something that will make the differences very apparent. Too apparent to ignore.
Then of course, there really is nothing that is too apparent to ignore.
We keep fretting about so many problems. In our personal lives, society. We say we are trying to work towards making things better. True. Exactly true. We always work towards making it better. We do not really want to solve the problem in its entirety. We would miss the satiety, the satisfaction that this Saviour image of ours grants us. When there is no problem there need not be a Saviour, or a solution seeker. We need our time of glory. Even if it is only inside our minds.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Blank Noise Spectators' Special (Till 15 August)
The public on the street comprises of those who 'experience' street sexual harassment, i.e. the survivors; those who cause street sexual harassment i.e the perpetrators and those who witness street sexual harassment i.e the spectators.
Our very own stat counter on the right hand bar of the page says that 22% of the Blank Noise blog visitors are spectators. Now its your turn to speak!
Most cases of street sexual violence go unnoticed because they are intangible , can be doubted as 'accidental brush/ touch' ( strictly in the Indian context). More often than not the survivor feels embarrassment and shame for being sexually violated and does not wish to draw further attention. Some survivors of street sexual violence don't seek public support because of the fear that 'the public' may not always show support, act indifferent, or be one more face in the crowd watching the scene.
Blank Noise Spectators Special asks members of the public, both men and women to share what they witnessed. What was your first reaction? Was it to intervene? Was it to ignore? What did you do? What would you rather have done? Can you share your thoughts about being a spectator. If you have been a 'special spectator' , that is, intervened in the situation, please tell us how! Was it with wit and humor? Or did physically assault the 'perpetrator'? Did you walk away? Or call the cops? Or gather a crowd? Or see another spectator take charge of the situation and participate in any way.
To participate in this online event please register by emailing us at blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com subject titled Blank Noise Spectators Special. Link this post to your blog, and send in your blog address. We will add you to the list below. Deadline for your post on being a spectator is August 15th.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A BLOG: no problem. what matters is your point of view. Register with us via email anyways. We will publish your ideas on the Blank Noise blog on Aug 15.
This event hopes to be one in the series of events planned in bringing together 'survivors'(http://blanknoiseactionheroes.blogspot.com), 'perpetrators' (male only event coming soon) and 'spectators'.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Blank Noise Team
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)