Happy St. David’s David’s Day!

It seems some of us have much in common with the ‘Mad as a March Hare’. I find people regularly exclaiming, usually in an affectionate way, that I  am mad, and thought today would be a good day to have a little explore of that particular topic. I was thinking about Colin Firth’s comical and understated acceptance speech and the fact that all applauded his  way of telling us that  he was dancing inside – well not actually dancing, just forming the moves….but was all going on inside.

He was pleased he did not embarrass himself  or the audience with an ‘inappropriate’  outpouring of emotion. He was affectionately funny, yet sane, not appearing to have lost it in any way like sofa leaping Tom Cruise or weeping  Gwynnie. Emotionally Continent. Socially acceptable…now hopefully when he got home he danced on the ceiling and howled at the moon…It’s only right…I mean it has got to be the most exciting day of his life and he had to ‘keep it together’. I think if I won an Oscar I would be like Gwynnie but worse….I would wave my arms to heaven, bellow, laugh,  cry and thank the whole world for blessing me with such a moment, and not care if people thought I was mad…..or would I?

I remember an episode of ER where a man kept bursting into tears – he apologised for being ’emotionally incontinent’ which I though was really funny, as I have periods of my life when my emotions are get very close to leaving my body at what the ‘social norm’ would consider to be inopportune moments -I had never heard that phrase before! Another film I love with Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy is called Bowfinger where Kit -Eddie Murphy had to ‘Keep It Together’ as he keeps seeing aliens.

So when do people say I am mad? When I start singing in the street, dancing on my own, being over enthusiastic, embracing life in a way that many would consider to be well, a bit  free, rebellious and unrestrained, and as madness is considered to be stepping out of the ‘social norm’ then many of us are…in fact mad. THANK GOD.

And there is such a fine line, and it so depends on which group you happen to be with on ‘how mad’ you can be. It seems socially acceptable to be mad when one is drunk – dancing on the tables, singing bad karaoke is completely excusable when you’ve had one too many, but if you do the same thing sober…well many would see it as an excuse to point the finger . You are mad! ha ha ha.

Taking your clothes off in the middle of Oxford Street would get you arrested and possibly sectioned, but in the safety of a naturist beach you would be considered the norm. So we can only be as mad as what is allowed in the social group we are mixing in at the time .

The thing I am aware is that there is a condition called ‘Locked-in Syndrome’ and imagine if you have this terrible condition, you would dream about running down to the sea waving your hands to heaven and screaming at the top of your lungs to the crashing waves.

The social norm means most people don’t do it either, so have to watch other people do all those wild and crazy things in movies, plays, pop-videos to experience…’acting out for us’ it has been said that ‘poets’ are only feeling what the rest of us cannot or are not allowed to. So Colin Firth can be wildly passionate in a movie, but not when accepting his Oscar. So for March I feel we should all make the effort to be slightly less locked-in and try ‘dancing on the outside’ just a little bit more. So…lets dance!

SONG OF THE DAY

Tyler James -Why Do I do

Very talented chap.He had a couple of  hits around 2003-4.’Your Woman ‘ was cool too.I think he went to college with Amy Winehouse, is an ex-boyfriend if you are to believe anything the media tell you…This is a different video from the one that came out in the Uk. The record company obviously spent a lot of money on him…but I get the feeling he was not given much of a long time commitment from them. So quickly record companies dump artists if they don’t sell straight away. It is a nasty cut throat business and wish him well and hope he is being really creative somewhere.

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