#116: Why we are special

A quick look under the hood of our foolishness

I have very few memories from junior school. One I was running off a stage after trying to sing (not so great). The other we built a house out of mud and sticks like Dutch settlers (super awesome). My most consistent memory was sitting alone in a class on the second floor totally disinterested as a remedial teacher tried with all her might to get the crooked letters in my head to invert and stop floating.

The point is I can’t spell. I can’t even see that I can’t spell. But you probably know that already if you have spent more than a few minutes reading my work.

So today my aim is simple. I want us to pause and celebrate that. I want to celebrate you, the reader. I want to celebrate you because you persist in the face of imperfection. Like an industrious crab you pick your way through my writing for hidden rewards. Today I think there is merit in pausing to honour that… To recognise how incredibly rare it is to do that these days. Honestly, you’re wonderful! Truly, truly, turn of the 19th century magnificent! I think as humans most of us have lost our ability to do that these days. There’s just too much. Too much that shines. But you, you wonderful humans, you to see something for its heart and potential; and not its glossy, AI-induced, Instagram filter; and honestly I think that is super, super cool. So thank you ❤️.

While we are at it, it is probably a good idea to celebrate me too. Each piece I write for you takes me about 25 - 45 minutes. I’m quick (thanks fasting moving brain/ADHD). But editing it down to something that I hope you will enjoy takes about 2 -6 hours. It’s a process I hate. With dyslexia, you don’t see words you see a moving mash of shapes. It takes intense concentration to trap each word on a paper and wrangle it into shape and I suppose that is worthy of merit. The love that holds me to a level of craft that I know you will enjoy and the courage it takes to embrace the Fool when I get it wrong despite trying hard.

But I think what is most worth celebrating is us together. Us fools. Us few who have caught the whiff and whims of what this publication is trying to do. Together we’re not consumers and maker, we’re hopers. Prayers. Believers. Changers. We’re Fools…

Today I want to encourage us in our work. You in your reading and feeling. Me in my writing. Us together in our believing. I think this mash of us really does create space for the impossible (I am not just saying that, I think it does). When we free ourselves and each other from the need to be perfect we remove the fear of failure. I am not sure we recognise the power of that. The potential it holds. A hundred years ago they did. ‘The Fool’ represented a noble archetype of someone who embarks on a journey without fully knowing what lies ahead. The Fool symbolised naivety and the willingness to take risks, to live with imperfection and embrace the messy road that leads to growth and transformation. Like gentle warriors Fools stood on the edge of a cliff, facing upwards, ready for the adventure of stepping into the unknown…

It is easy to see how counterculture those ideas are today… Safe. Insured. Secure. Secluded. Separate. Settled… these are better words to describe our species.

But some of us are not settling. We striving for more and so I've presumptuously set us a small task to express our foolishness. Together we've started a revolution against apathy (for those who are new, see it here). South African teen mental health is our clarion call, and it is a good one. Anyone with a pulse can see that needs work. Joyfully and together we’re stepping off the ledge and using Tomfoolery courses to serve schools. My meeting is set up at College for a few weeks and to be honest, starting was the hardest part. For those with capacity, I want to urge us to revel in the chance to push against the stifling confines of our culture and embrace tomfoolery in this small and meaningful task. Send a WhatsApp now to someone who works in a school you love! Or phone a friend? Or bang out an email…. For your sake don’t miss the chance to find out what happens if we try just a bit…

PS. The Tomfoolery YouTube page is almost ready to be put to work. 8 course loaded up. 2 to go. Lesson plans are in a link in the description of each video. It is an impressive body of work mostly because of its scope and size. Give me a week or two and it should be ready for action

PSS. See Steve Jobs's view on foolishness here

PSSS. Jordan Peterson does a good job describing the Fool in the opening chapter of his second book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. I have time for anyone prepared to try and fail in the name of service. And while I hate the way Jordan interrupts people, and his tone, and his aggression, and a large, large chunk of his ideas he’s a great example of someone who is imperfect (and aware of it, read the book above) but still doing his bit which I think is pretty cool

PSSSS. I think our first draft of school courses are a decent start. They will serve young humans in a classroom. They are imperfect though. Too information-heavy in my view, with too little narrative. Best case scenario we need to raise some money to flight the crap out of them on YouTube and then re-do them all in story form like comic books (or that is what narrative persuasion theory says anyway) … but I am getting ahead of myself…. Let’s focus on the true joy of being ok with imperfect and doing what we can, with what we have, now… ah, that’s beautiful