Sunday, April 11, 2004

Are you a stay-at-home?

Like or not, agree with it or not, there are two kinds of people (for the purposes of this ad hoc rendition) - those who could be called, stay-at-homes, and those who could be called, explorers. Generally, one does not become the other - at least not in their lifetime (which is just about all the time you've got, eh?)

Stay-at-homes are, of course, the VASTEST majority on our planet. Only a few explorers ever even get borned, let alone all growed-up to do their "explorer-thing".

And, it seems (apparently), that explorers are born, not made. That is, obviously, if you are born a stay-at-home, a stay-at-home you'll remain till death does it's inevitable number upon your livelihood.

Now, (you guessed it, right?) there are two kinds of explorers: 1) the kind who want to climb mountains, dive deep into oceans, trek off to far away lands, or just generally extend the "known boundaries" of where everybody else lives (the stay-at-homes), and, 2) the kind who couldn't actually be bothered by planetary journeys, even inter-planetary journeys (though they'd probably not turn down such an opportunity if it ever arose), but prefer the inner journeys into, around, and about their own minds.

Are you a stay-at-home?
Probably, you are, even if you think you're not.

Are you an explorer?
Probably only the first kind, even if you think you're the second.

One way to tell which kind of explorer one might be, is their instant, immediate receptivity to ideas they've never encountered before. Are they attracted to such, almost with a perceptible >>passion<<, or are they quite irritated, almost repulsed by such? Explorers-of-the-first-kind generally make plans, and stick to them, and major (or minor) deviations from those plans are ill-received. Explorers-of-the-second-kind have neither plans, route-maps, directions, or presumed outcomes - for, exploring is all that is intended from the outset.

If a person is irritated, and disturbed, and upset by the introduction of new ideas, then they are neither an explorer-of-the-second-kind, nor probably even an explorer-of-the-first-kind. Yup. They are a stay-at-home.

Now, of course, and it certainly goes without saying, there's nothing WRONG with that - being a stay-at-home. Afterall, it's only because the vastest majority of mankind is, and wants to be, a confirmed, die-hard stay-at-home, that explorers are free to "do their exploring thing" unimpeded, and unemcumbered. (Hey, someone's got to keep the home fires burning, and build the libraries, and record the histories, and stuff.)

But, the explorer-of-the-second-kind, is not even concerned with that. Once s/he sets off on the trail for the most exciting journey of the ages, they've already - for all intent and purposes - left the planet which spawned them, and not that willing anymore to even return.

One last thing, if you ever meet such an explorer-of-the-second-kind >>in the flesh<<, you won't know them, and you won't recognize them.

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