Musing

-1C/30F, strong Chinook breeze, warm day ahead; neighbourhood quiet as ‘those working’ dwindles before the holidays

we all belong to clubs, groups or sub-sets of society

none of us is alone; we are all part of one demographic statistic or another

whether or not we belong to a club, we are united by commonality of thoughts – some members of ‘the community’ having standards or thoughts or interests that set them apart, formally or informally; sometimes to be counted, more often to be part of one silent minority or another

the amount of ink devoted to one’s view of morality this morning - surely in-fill for a news scarce week - morning papers overflow with news coverage of Elton John’s wedding, stories about the movie Brokeback Mountain together with details of a Supreme Court ruling that swing clubs are not illegal . . . . that would make a swinging 1960’s time-traveler blush, laugh, smile & tear off their toga

I am not angry – just highly amused

I find it interesting when journalists & jurists alike feel obliged to tell us their definition of decency vis-à-vis its opposite – no doubt wanting to take some form of moral high ground before the politicians mix it up on whether or not our private thoughts & behaviour should be regulated by someone’s definition of what is indecent

I live in a country where, thanks to lawmakers & lawbreakers pushing the envelope it has long been reality that defining what I should see, do or think is a matter of personal responsibility, not illegality – I’m so glad the Supreme Court & Hollywood finally caught up with how people live their lives

for something completely different about group behaviour:

the last 14 months since our singles Toastmasters club was formed, interesting times bringing people together who would otherwise likely never meet, where most of us share 2 or 3 commonalities [singleness, speaking, divorced-ness] + the sense of ‘belonging’ to our club

support group for speakers ? singles mingle club ? a singles group with a speaking problem ?

or lab animals in a sociology study ?

maybe a bit of all those things . . . resulting in lots of laughs & smiles & emotional moments among friends

last night’s pot-luck dinner meeting [20 of our 30 members attending], a night for laughter & seasonal celebration; as always we learn so much of someone else’s view of the world in something as simple as a 2 minute speech responding spontaneously to a question - bonds we form & what we learn of someone else’s ‘human condition’ go far beyond the privileges of membership

Mark

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