Fish on Dry Land
I'm spending this weekend with a few dozen other people with whom I share a common pursuit. In this way, this weekend is like others from my past. In years past, I've spent certain weekends with dozens of basketball players. Other weekends I spent with dozens of academic students. This weekend, however, I'm hanging with folks from the tech industry. In some ways, I could be considered an "insider", or at least "one of the gang", within the domains of sports, academia, and tech. But I must confess that not since high school have I felt so alienated from these groups "of mine". It's not that I don't like these people or that they don't like me. Quite the reverse. I very much like these folks, and this feeling of mine seems more or less reciprocated. No, the source of my sense of alienation emerges from the realization that my understanding of the world in which I live -- an understanding part of which is set forth in this site -- seems more or less in conflict with the world views of these groups. To put it bluntly, I'm fast becoming a weirdo within these groups "of mine". What about the people with whom I most closely share my present world view? It seems these people "of mine" already are "outsiders" from the mainstream groupthink circles of this nation (e.g., sports, academia, tech, entertainment, finance, etc.). As such, this time in my life is turning into the most interesting phase since puberty. Glad I'm going through this long after puberty. Good time to be blogging!
[posted: 08/19/05]
