The more things change, the more they stay the same.
That’s certainly an interesting thing to think about. It’s all about patterns really. If something constantly changes, well that’s your sameness, the change. I wonder if the exact opposite then becomes true. The less things change, the less they stay the same. Thinking about it, I believe that could very well be true too. How so is probably the question. Well… The more time you’re given to look at and examine something, often results in finding all sorts of nuances. Additionally it probably allows you to see or hear all of the different elements to the thing. Which results in your viewpoint changing or expanding, or something.
I had a casual meeting with a friend by the name Zak Morgan yesterday down at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. He’s a great children’s music performer. Does lots and lots of stuff for kids. Does it well and enjoys it. Anyway, towards the end of our meeting a woman came up to us as we were mid conversation and asked if she could join. On first reaction, I got the impression via Zak’s body language and hers that they might have known each other, so I shrugged and said sure. Zak must have thought the same thing for me. Then came the realization Zak didn’t know her. So I introduced myself and shook her hand.
The obvious response from most people would be to announce their name. She just stood there. So Zak did the same and again, she just stood there and didn’t say a word. Of course we start asking questions. To which we get no response. Though based on some of the things we said we almost got her to bust up laughing. I mentioned that we must be on camera for Howie Mandel’s show or something (we had just seen him and his crew about 20 minutes earlier). Nope, no response. After several minutes and a lack of any kind of real response. I turned back to Zak and continued my point in the conversation that got interrupted. Within seconds the mystery woman turned and walked away. Leaving Zak extremely confused. It was weird.
Moments later a different woman did the same thing to another guy about 10 feet away from us. He was much more persistent for a while. But eventually he got frustrated as well. At this point, I was thinking it had to be a comedy troop attempting to see how people would react to a lack of communication. Within another couple of minutes a 3rd girl was about to cross the street to another part of the Promenade. I noticed that she appeared to be looking for someone to do the exact same thing to. I got her attention and Zak started asking her questions. Finally a response… “I’m really hungry.” Additionally, she had a lot more facial expressions and sorta used her body language to answer the questions whether she intended to or not.
Thus Zak and I were thrown into a situation where we had the chance to examine an idea from more than one angle. Zak offered to buy this pretty girl lunch. I had to leave, so they went off to lunch. He called me later to tell me that these women were part of some group that were working on stereotypes and judgments. Apparently the first woman also mentioned she was hungry, but somehow I missed that one. Zak learned they were not allowed to say anything other than they were hungry. I’m not sure I understand the gist of the exercise, but what a wacky way to extract judgment out of someone.
Anyway, I can go on and on. Instead, I’ll leave it at a simple message that Fleetwood Mac once recorded – Don’t Stop. Eventually you can find your way to your goal. The first woman gave up. We didn’t deal with the 2nd one we saw. The third had better body language skills than the first one. She got what she needed despite the lack of verbal use.
Fleetwood Mac is probably one of the best and underrated bands in music history, no? Well, probably not underrated. I’m sure they had quite a time in their spotlight. From all the stories I’ve read, it was a tumultuous time for all the members involved. Lots of communication issues. Love issues. Relationship issues. Things changed. But the music stayed great. The beauty is the recorded version is done and you can go back and listen multiple times. If you listen intently enough you’ll hear lots and lots of layers in there. That’s the sign of some of the greatest music ever – being able to hear something new every time you listen.
If you don’t have anything by this band, especially this release of Rumors – change that right now!
(** Disclaimer: If Fleetwood’s label decides to try and get me to stop thinking about tomorrow, I’ll have to have the server forget the audio. The post will remain to show that I appreciate change and examination. **)