Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
(Janine and Kate and Stephanie and Dawn are the source of one of the more enjoyable blog hops in the blogosphere. Their hop, this FTSF, is the best, (with 10 Things Thankful coming up strong), because it offers us an opportunity to take a common thought/idea/premise/sentence fragment and see how creative we can be. This is not a competition and yet it is, but more akin to a ‘jam’ (in the sense of musical improvisation where a group of musician will take a familiar song and see where they can take it). Fun (and as guest bloggerini, Katia from ‘IAMTHEMILK’)
If I could have dinner with anyone in history it would be with…
…my 9 year old self.
me: “Is this alright to do? I should ask my mother…”
Me: “She said to tell you it was alright, she knows me and thought that it might do you some good. Did she tell you who I am?”
me: “I don’t think so. She said you were an actor or something, maybe a model. Yeah, she said you were a roll model do you sell bread?”
Me: “No.”
me: “You remind me of someone. Kinda. Are you a part of the family? I never heard anyone talk about you, there is only Uncle Phil and Uncle Charles, he’s not really my uncle but we call him that. Are you one of those pretend relatives?”
Me: “In a way, you might say so. Thats not important, now. What is important is that I talk to you and answer your questions and maybe give you some advice. So, why don’t I tell you a story about someone I knew who was just like you, ok?”
me: “yeah, sure. My mom said she would be back to eat with us in a little while, that I should just start and not wait for her and that you had some advice that I should listen to, are you like a Psychologist or something? ’cause I’m ok, theres nothing wrong with me and I will figure out what I want to be soon.”
Me: “Nope nothing wrong. Look, here’s the deal. I know that you think you are different and I know that you are afraid that people will find that out. I know that you really think it’s something you have missed or failed to learn and you believe that the answer is out there in all the interesting facts and information that you see, in the books you read, and the things you imagine. I also know that you hope to make your parents proud of you and your friends glad you are around and that’s all ok and all..”
me: “…but”
Me: “yeah! but… the ‘but’ is that you are different, and people will always see that, but what they say and how they talk about you? you need to know and not forget that stuff is about them, it is not about you.
me: “I am very gifted and read like a 12th grader, my mother says that I should be grateful and need to use my abilities and apply myself and do well…”
Me: “…but”
(we both laugh… my younger self laughing and feeling comfortable with this strange but interesting old guy. my actual self laughs with a surprising sense of affection for this younger version of myself …thinking, ‘this kid has some pretty human, everyday qualities’.)
me: “yeah, I really want to get people to like me or admire me or just be one of them… my friends or the kids at school. I don’t know, but I know that anything is possible and I feel like I almost know what I think I need to know”
Me: “I have a confession to make…. I thought about this ‘dinner with anyone…” thing and when I thought up the thing about having you, my younger self, be the dinner guest character, I got really excited…”
me: “and you imagined how neat it would be and how the story would make everyone sit up and say, ‘what a cool story’? Like that?
Me: “yeah. and here we are and it is a neat idea, but it’s funny, but I already don’t think about how cool it will be, what a neat idea and how people will like it… but, you know something” it is an interesting premise, in ways that just didn’t occur to me when started”
me: “ok, so what advice are you going to give me, your younger self… something that will let me figure how to be a real person and be popular and admired and avoid all the bad parts and stuff?”
Me: “Nope. No advice from me. Because advice is somebody else’s information… you can (and you will) get all the information you need all on your own. I will repeat, you are different (an ‘Outsider’ you will say one day, maybe), but you are still a kid with good intent and if you have to drag your self-doubt and self-consciousness around with you for a while, feeling like no one will accept you the way you are, then that’s probably how it needs to be…”
me:”Man! what a gyp! my science fiction stories say you’re supposed to tell me how to get rich and famous and popular, ’cause I’ll know stuff from my future and they’ll all admire me and my family will be proud of me and everything”
Me: “well…tough, got no secret answer for you… maybe that is the secret answer… that there is no secret answer, no shortcut. And since we’re discussing your future, I’ll say this one last thing, I’ve been there (in your future) and there is nothing that says you are predestined to have a good life or a bad life, an easy life or a hard life. Sorry, there is no Fate that rules that your life will turn out one way or another way… just you and the things you hold onto inside, your beliefs and hope, determination, faith and even what some people call Will, that matters. What do you have to say to that, kid?”
me: “or are we just gonna talk, can I order desert now?”
About clarkscottroger
What an interesting way to go with this prompt. I love how the younger you wanted to get rich and famous, but the older and wiser you had richer information for him. I would have bestowed the same wisdom on my younger self, and perhaps a few techniques for telling someone off and making them cry, HEE HEE
@Karen
…funny, (and I’m sure I’ll say this other places) this is the most difficult of the Sentences so far… but still fun in a god-I-just-sent-this-out-into-the-blogosphere-and-I-won’t-be-there-to-explain-to Readers!! lol Your Comment makes me feel a bit better about how I Finished the Sentence this last day of Summer Friday
What was for dessert?? No but seriously, I love that you would choose your younger self to pretty much reassure them and let them know that they are different, but in a good way. Totally felt like I was reliving Back to the Future, but loved that movie as you already know, so great choice my friend!! And thank you as always for linking up and have a wonderful weekend now!! :)
@Janine
thank you, I really enjoyed your Post. (Now that you say that), I am seeing a lot of the Doctrine in the Posts today, especially your Post! It is a characteristic of the rogerian worldview to treasure the continuity of family and tradition and you totally did that, by not only telling the ‘story’ but showing us the people…as real people. nice
Ha! Time travel rookie mistake alert – your younger self must surely have known (even at such a tender age) that had you not gone through the hard times, challenges and difficulties, you would no longer feel the need to travel back and tell him that it was ok to go through them, and if (then) he was comforted and felt ok about going through them, as an adult, your current self would no longer feel the need to go back and do the telling.
Or something.
This was fun.
@Considerer
lol… but my younger self was such a clark! he would have had no problem with the exotic nature of the dinner and despite believing that I was a time traveler, would thought, ‘sure, old guy I won’t be that easy to fool’
Just two quick things to insert. You guys don’t get too much rogerian input up in here, so…
a) In the above photo, the cutest little kid ever is apparently about to get her arms bent back at an unnatural angle. Casper the Friendly Ghost, who also inhabited the premises, may have been assaulted in a similar manner.
b) Just had my hair cut by an old, old Italian barber, who I quickly categorized as a roger. In forty minutes, I learned about the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, tomatoes, local politics, and the new Pope.
And he somehow managed to cut my hair, too.
@RCoyne
“…just happened the other day”
and, since you are the (Progenitor) roger, what are the common elements, the theme, the over-arching rationale to his discourse? ( I can picture the conversation, of course, but we are more interesting in what it all felt like)
Sometimes, the past may haunt us; however, I think this is a pretty clever post, Clark. It’s important to come to terms with our past or even see back, in our memories, who we were and how it has helped us be who we are today.
@Keith
Thank you… very agree with the idea of seeing the connection of the past to the future, if for no other reason than to confirm and assert the belief (that the reality I live in is very much an offspring of the past).
One question: If you knew you were going to go back into the past and talk to yourself, why didn’t you check out last week’s numbers in the Powerball Jackpot and take them with you? At least then you’d have been guaranteed a tremendous financial future. And, if the numbers were lost or destroyed, you’d have a true reflection of the person you’d become! :) Certainly, your personality type would have been extremely efficient in preparing for the journey …. Right? Good premise!
@Rich
lol you know, I have this theory that the time travel stories we all grew up on, would not play out the way the stories would have us believe. But it is such an interesting propostion, to talk to yourself (of a much younger age). (Depending on how much insight one might want to dig for, the exercise simply never leaves you un-altered.
My turn to be jealous. I love that you chose your nine year old self and the wisdom that you shared with him. But um. So it’s bad to want to be rich and famous as an adult right? Right. Ok. Got it. Most excellent ending, by the way.
@Kristi
Thank you… who the hell said that it’s bad to be rich and famous!?!? Where the hell is my editor!! stop the damn, virtual presses!! lol In all seriousness, I kinda wish I had started this here blog here sooner, but that’s simply silly as I started as soon as I could.
(docTee on it’s way!)
Interesting post as always! :) I just read another post where someone had opted for dinner with their late father, so with my Dad in mind, when I got to your 12th grade comment, I was reminded about the time I was complaining about doing yard work with my Dad. He would have me pick up sticks from the yard (which was pretty much a forest, so that was interesting) so we wouldn’t slip on pine needles and get impaled by them. I was hot and sticky and annoyed, and he said “By God Chris, you’re acting like a 2nd grader!!” When I went in the house, I had to ask my Mom what he meant by that … I actually WAS a 2nd grader. :)
@Chris
lol I would like to hear that as a deliberate joke (somehow adults making sophisticated jokes to children speaks well of the child and the adult).
Clark,
Ha. And YAY about the DocTee!
Part II of the Barber Thing…
Well, with him being a Type A roger, he doesn’t necessarily need to know anyone well, or maybe even at all, to include them in the herd. There is a fundamental holistic outlook that, if defined, would absolutely include everything under the sun. So, you’re instantly a new ( and included ) friend, and can therefore share discourse on any imaginable subject. This is most fortunate for a barber, although actual barbering must sometimes take a back seat to the subject at hand. So he thinks he goes to work every day to primarily barber, and tell people stuff from his perspective. Actually, the total reverse is true, but he is not at all aware of that.
@RCoyne
interesting term, ‘fundamental holistic outlook’ surely covers not just what is, but what was, in fact, I might suggest (or rather amplify your statement) that he will account for everything except… ‘what might have been’
Probably so. Much more apt to go straight to “they should have” rather than speculate.
Ah, I would have a lot to say to my younger self too! Thanks for sharing this one, Clark!
Fun! This is reminiscent of The Time Traveler’s Wife. Enjoyed it! Super creative.
@Kate
thank you… you guys (Janine and Stephanie and Dawn) are to be thanked