IPO

I'm not peddling stocks

As a guy who thinks a bit too much about food at times, this is a good photo of obsession perhaps. Today’s post IS NOT ABOUT FOOD but rather our relationship with it might be an example of OBSESSION

Many of you, upon receiving this may be thinking of Initial Public Offering (IPO). While those are the initials this evening, we are going elsewhere.

I LOVE the range of human behavior. One of my favorite Newsletters boils down to the glee of seeing people in all of their diversity and glory as just People! We all can learn so much by just watching others and picking up tips.

Today I decided I would talk about my version of IPO. For me, the initials stand for Idea, Passion, and Obsession. So what am I talking about today??? Since I already mentioned my attraction to “the range of human behavior”, I am of the camp that some of us are energized by new things and others not so much. While some people might think this is critical, I do not. In my imagination, only the P matters. The “I” and the “O” are more likely to govern the impact of whatever it is we do on this journey through life.

Idea/Impulse

So what do I mean? A person who tries a lot of things, who assures us they love EVERYTHING probably enacts a lot of the ideas that pop into their head. I might go as far as saying poor impulse control. I recently attended the wedding of one of my nephews. The world will always need good people and this newest couple will make the world a better place. The reception was a WONDERFUL AFFAIR in a beautiful setting. When the reception wound down and the facility “pulled the plug” on the music to end the evening the emcee cleared the room leaving the bride and groom for one last dance.

As beautiful as it looks

The rest of us walked out the rear of the ballroom and were invited to arrange ourselves with a path to the water. We arranged ourselves and formed a lane for sending off the bride and groom. The rear of the facility provided a wonderful mountain backdrop and a sort of reflecting pool that set the scene.

It was a beautiful ceremony and celebration. How it came to an end that evening, however, was quite a surprise! Once the bride and groom joined us amidst our cell phone flashlights simulating lighters at a concert to exhort an encore, a small group of the people started with “go for it”. Soon the bride and groom jumped into the pool! As one might expect, a few of the other like-aged folks joined them in the pool. Eventually, even more people, folks I might tag as possessing poor impulse control joined them in the water. Alas, your author yielded to the pressure and after sequentially emptying his pockets, removing his silk tie, and even removing his shoes, joined in. This was the first time this has happened to me and confident it will be the last. I shared this story with a great friend of mine Jim S. Jim grew up amid a family business of running a Men’s Store. He guided that if you are in the tuxedo rental business, this was the most hated of behaviors.

While I am a serial documenter, I decided that no photographs were necessary for this phase of the wedding so it will be left up to you to visualize the scene. As a post-script, as I was readying my trip to my rental car, I encountered some staff and asked whether this was a common occurrence. They advised it has happened before but is far from common. They also mentioned that the pool, while chlorinated is not meant for swimming and they had pulled a mule deer out of the water a couple of weeks ago. I am no longer so concerned about COVID as there are myriad diseases now in play I never considered.

Passion

So many of us might try anything once. Passion is a different animal. My travel week to the wedding destination encompassed a range of emotions. Before the trip, a thirty-year friend reached out and advised, at the still young age of 68, he was facing an inoperable and unstable heart condition. My friend had lived a life FULL OF PASSION. I met him in the late 1980s in Central California and his energy was palpable. Michael lived enough for many lives and even was the endorsed candidate for President back in 2004. While he and I got to know each other, he exhibited what I mean when I say a person might try something (Idea/Impulse) and for some, it may become a passion.

My friend Michael dipped his toe in the water and went skydiving on a free weekend. It immediately captured him and became a passion for him. Many years later, my wife and I received an invitation to Michael’s one-thousandth jump. He was a jumpmaster, an instructor, and a passionate advocate of the hobby. I remember he even took to including “freefall” as his middle name in his email handle.

For the cynical, you might jump to the possibility that jumping out of a perfectly good airplane 1000 times is more than passion and approaches obsession. If you were to come to know Michael, you would know the difference.

Obsession

For me, obsession is sad and a common outcome that tracks closely with how our brains operate. Addiction is an incessant component of so many lives and for me, is defined by when we lack control of our actions after burning in a pattern that yields something we crave. I wrote about the peculiar practice of being a “Coal Roller” in a recent post titled Common Sense. It is perfectly acceptable in my eyes to drive whatever vehicle you wish and grant that same deference to others, whether they are unicycles, bicycles, hybrids, or large trucks. Here’s Common Sense if you are interested in the obsession of being a coal roller.

Common Sense

I even think I enjoy the range of behavior when such folks become passionate about their vehicles. Bumper stickers represent that shift toward passion pretty well. I suppose when the bumper stickers no longer represent your passion but undermining someone else is where I draw the line. When I see the avid bicyclist dressed in garb that channels the Tour de France, I figure no harm, no foul. When I see drivers veer close to a bicyclist to intimidate them with a three-ton oversized dump truck with leather seats, I am filled with disgust.

I am happy that the bicyclist or pickup owner might take joy in customizing their ride. What I cannot grasp or understand why others might identify as harmless is “getting out of your lane”. Your freedom and enjoyment end when you become committed to imposing it on others. For me, that is a working definition of obsession. I believe, WHENEVER we become okay with IMPOSING our will on a subset of our fellow citizens, we are wading into dangerous territory. The line is tough to inscribe but most of the time our line, which brings us individual serenity is a poor reason to impose it on others with a different point of view or life experience.

Goldilocks

So what, if any, are my conclusions about IPO? My sense is joy is hiding just beyond our willingness to exercise an idea. I think that willingness, each time we try something new just might lead to a new passion. How great is that? Finally, I think as long as we remain willing to try new things (Ideas), we might avoid a singular obsession and instead end up with a whole host of enjoyable experiences. Not too much, not too little but just right. Thank you, Goldilocks.

Poll & Music

Tonight’s song, for me, is about passion. This song was released when I was six. The Wikipedia discussion reinforces the importance of the song in music history and its appeal to many including Paul McCartney as inspiration. It is a stretch but the emotional tug captures the path between “Idea » Passion » Obsession”. This song remains one I will always love. Here’s another classic about passion

What’s Next

The next time, our title is a mouthful. Tune in for “Polders and the Zuider Zee”. I had begun writing this as a draft weeks ago and someone at my book club talked about polders!!! I promptly went home and finished the post.