I was doing a lot of reflection this morning about life and why life is like it is. There are times when I start thinking about life and why I am the way I am and why I am not like other people are. I wish I could be like others, at times, and have their interests and get excited about things they are excited about but if I am honest I have to say that their excitement about their interests really do not excite me at all.
Take sports, for instance. There are people who live and breathe sports all the time. They watch sports on the local news. They cheer for their team, maybe even dressing up in the sports paraphenalia they have purchased exactly for that purpose. They know the players and the teams and when they play and who has played well and who plays badly and they are into their sport of choice completely.
When it comes to sports, I am more like the character on a British television show called "The IT Crowd" that our daughter and son-in-law introduced us to. The program has three main characters, all of whom work together in the Internet Technology department of a large company in London. The two male characters are both "nerds" as stereotyped, guys who live and breathe technology, who can take apart a computer and put it back together in seconds, who live in that world so much that they have trouble relating to the "normal" world of others. In one episode, they go to a soccer game (they call it football but we really know what it is). One guy wants to fit in while at the game and is trying to act like the others around him but the other guy cannot relate to it at all. He says things like, "Oh good, now they will run down the other way and throw the ball. I thought so, now here they come back again." His chatter makes the others around him get annoyed as does his friend who brought him. The game is not comprehensible to him because he cannot just accept it as something to enjoy but has to try to figure it out. He does not see the purpose in it.
When other men are talking about sports, I stand there mute with nothing to say because I often do not see the purpose in it. I did not learn to simply enjoy it because I had no one to teach me to do so. My father was not a huge sports fan. He liked to watch baseball now and then but usually fell asleep in his recliner and woke up wanting to know what the score was from a household of people here and there not paying attention to the game. He did not go to local sports games and did not encourage his children to be involved in them. He did not take part in any activities in our local community, to be honest. Our family simply lived where we did but, outside of our church, we were not active members of our community.
I sometimes wish I did like sports and talking about the things that other guys talk about. It would give me something to say when I am in groups where men are dominant. I usually just wait for the subject to change to the weather or movies or something else that I can make a comment on. I am who I am because many things shaped me into being who I am and I had to learn to accept that about myself years ago. I am not anyone else and perhaps that is a lesson all of us have to learn sometimes in life. We have to find contentment in being who we are and being thankful that we are gifted in the areas in which we have gifts. I may not be the average guy who lives in my community or state but I do fit in somewhere when I am with others who can relate to who I am.
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