The monster in the closet
So do I always have to write something earth-shattering? I haven’t exhausted ideas of what to write about, but there are so many people that I interact with that are not very down-to-earth. Some people that are not easy to talk to. Some people where everything is a crisis, there is always something wrong, there is tragedy around every corner and a monster in every closet. That can get tiring after a while and I wonder how they can sleep at night. Do their minds shut down? Can they let it all go? Should I be more like them?
OK, it is my understanding that the children’s show (that my boys love) Rolie Polie Oile is about a boy named Olie who lives on the planet Rolie or maybe even Rolie Polie. It is hard to tell from the research I have done on the subject, but it is telling nonetheless. Now, if I was to introduce myself I would normally say “Hi, my name is Mark Dudley and I live on the planet earth.” OK, maybe not the “planet earth” part, but I needed that for my illustration. What is different about the show Rolie Polie Olie is that the planet he lives on precedes his first name. I was under the impression that his full name is Olie Polie and that he lives on the planet Rolie, but that may not be the case. If it is, it would be even more striking. It would almost be like identifying myself as Earth Dudley Mark:
By placing the planet first in Olie’s identity I believe the author is trying to make a point that the planetary identity is the most important one and the one that should be cherished above all else. Then in decreasing order, we find the other two (or one if Polie does not turn out to be the surname of Olie). There is some truth to this designation. But there is some danger as well. The individual is to be as highly cherished as the collective. This is a source of never-ending conflict in this sin-soaked world, but that conflict is borne out of tension that should be there in the first place. If we lose sight of the individual we forget our humanity just as readily as if we lose sight of the collective. As an individual I would be more akin to calling the little boy Olie Polie from the planet Rolie, but stressing the collective (as we rarely do in the US) Rolie Polie Olie stand out to be a bit more meaningful.
Then again, maybe there is no monster in the closet at all. Even if it is a good monster.
OK, it is my understanding that the children’s show (that my boys love) Rolie Polie Oile is about a boy named Olie who lives on the planet Rolie or maybe even Rolie Polie. It is hard to tell from the research I have done on the subject, but it is telling nonetheless. Now, if I was to introduce myself I would normally say “Hi, my name is Mark Dudley and I live on the planet earth.” OK, maybe not the “planet earth” part, but I needed that for my illustration. What is different about the show Rolie Polie Olie is that the planet he lives on precedes his first name. I was under the impression that his full name is Olie Polie and that he lives on the planet Rolie, but that may not be the case. If it is, it would be even more striking. It would almost be like identifying myself as Earth Dudley Mark:
- Earth (Rolie): the planet I live on and the definition of how I relate to the universe and the rest of the planetary population
- Dudley (Polie): my surname and the definition of how I relate to my nation or (maybe) people-group
- Mark (Olie): my first name and the definition of how I relate to my family and (maybe) friends
By placing the planet first in Olie’s identity I believe the author is trying to make a point that the planetary identity is the most important one and the one that should be cherished above all else. Then in decreasing order, we find the other two (or one if Polie does not turn out to be the surname of Olie). There is some truth to this designation. But there is some danger as well. The individual is to be as highly cherished as the collective. This is a source of never-ending conflict in this sin-soaked world, but that conflict is borne out of tension that should be there in the first place. If we lose sight of the individual we forget our humanity just as readily as if we lose sight of the collective. As an individual I would be more akin to calling the little boy Olie Polie from the planet Rolie, but stressing the collective (as we rarely do in the US) Rolie Polie Olie stand out to be a bit more meaningful.
Then again, maybe there is no monster in the closet at all. Even if it is a good monster.
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