how about some frivolity and self-indulgence?
oops, i forgot the fun part! here's a quick coda to my last column.
nb: this is a semi-autonomous update to my last post, “why do good things happen to bad people?”
moments after i sent my last, i went out back with the fam into the snowy woods for some quaker-style silence.
one of the young people i took to the women’s march eight years ago was along, and the following was their take on the day’s events.
i am mourning my future.
according to this wise, grieving still-young person, part of that prematurely lost future is “frivolity and self-indulgence.”
one of the delightful things about this era has been the satire, especially the late-night comedians. laughing at these asshats used to feel like a healthy form of resistance.
i think that has become less true over time. not that i’m likely to give up watching a closer look on youtube anytime soon. i just think maybe there are better ways to resist, and that maybe it has to start closer to home.
frivolity exists purely for its own sake. it bows to no master. also:
frivolity does not recognize authority. authoritarians despise it.
frivolity costs nothing. billionaires can’t hoard it.
frivolity is just as endemic to the human condition as suffering is. no one can take it away from us.
frivolity makes us laugh freely, not because it hurts slightly less than crying. this gives us joy and hope. oppressors hate joy and hope.
guy! guys! you know what this means?
frivolity is resistance.
woohoo! i need to plan some pointless fun. what’ll it be? maybe …
dancing in the snow wearing nothing but a mask of my own face
learning how to repurpose the detritus of vinyl into conceptual sonic sculptures
making a “balanced” together breakfast for dinner and eating it all by myself
got any ideas? please share in the comments.
first, though, here’s a frivolous video i took of my frivolous husband throwing an undeniably-more-frivolous-than-usual snowball.
i feel better already. you?
p.s. all that stuff i said before about tying ourselves together and taking care of each other is still true.
Thank you, PJ!