Wannabe Wannabes
Jul 21, 2005
I have a friend, Amu. Who finds it really difficult to Look Down on people. I really like that about her. She reminds me to be slow to scorn. I remember one afternoon she interrupted a companiable silence to say- I wonder why people beat up so much on Wannabes. I mean To Be, you have to Want to Be. And what's wrong with that?I could have answered that right there in a dozen different ways. Could have talked about the degeneration of inner discernment, the blind folly of fawning adulation and the breathless brand of emulation it breeds. But I know she knows these things and that right now she's flipped the coin on its head and is looking at The Other Side (which is another thing she does really well). You don't prove anything by belittling anyone's aspiration is what she's saying. And the fact that as a race we can be drawn towards that which inspires us- that these things can influence our way of being in this world- is maybe one of the things that makes us human. And this is a good thing. (Even if it does make us act silly sometimes).
I want to be a Wannabe, she said decidedly, daring me to deny it. And of course I didn't. Because I knew then that I was pretty much a Wannabe Wannabe too.
