A study in contrasts: part one
Two twentysomethings -- both a little crazy in the head, both contradictions in terms.
Anneke is a queen. People are smitten with her as soon as they speak to her. She is dynamic and mysterious and fascinating. Every few years she packs her bags and makes a fresh start in another city, in which she easily finds new friends, lovers, wavering souls ready to adore her in her little fortress of self-confidence. And in her wake the worshippers wait for missives from their goddess.
But Walter -- oh, Walter. He is predictable. He is staid and practical. When Walter sees the map of his future laid before him, he carefully calculates the value of each route, and then he doublechecks his math. He lives in a city for which he has cultivated a marked distaste, and he remains because it is the most logical course of action, given his long-term plans. Most of his friendships have soured, but he harbours a secret hope that everything would be different in another town.
This is not meant to resolve itself in Freudian analysis. What needs to be pointed out, however, is that although these descriptions of my friends are completely accurate, we need to look closer. Because Anneke has a daily routine (into which she plunges with gusto), while Walter, in a conscious attempt to avoid predictability, does not.
Does then a daily routine release one from the demands of daily unpredictability? Is it a form of absolution? Or are daily routines such draconian things that in order to get away from them, one must make a clean and complete break?
Anneke is a queen. People are smitten with her as soon as they speak to her. She is dynamic and mysterious and fascinating. Every few years she packs her bags and makes a fresh start in another city, in which she easily finds new friends, lovers, wavering souls ready to adore her in her little fortress of self-confidence. And in her wake the worshippers wait for missives from their goddess.
But Walter -- oh, Walter. He is predictable. He is staid and practical. When Walter sees the map of his future laid before him, he carefully calculates the value of each route, and then he doublechecks his math. He lives in a city for which he has cultivated a marked distaste, and he remains because it is the most logical course of action, given his long-term plans. Most of his friendships have soured, but he harbours a secret hope that everything would be different in another town.
This is not meant to resolve itself in Freudian analysis. What needs to be pointed out, however, is that although these descriptions of my friends are completely accurate, we need to look closer. Because Anneke has a daily routine (into which she plunges with gusto), while Walter, in a conscious attempt to avoid predictability, does not.
Does then a daily routine release one from the demands of daily unpredictability? Is it a form of absolution? Or are daily routines such draconian things that in order to get away from them, one must make a clean and complete break?
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