Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
I have no idea…
…and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know…
thanks, Kristi
Being Friday, we’re joining Kristi, Vic and them over at the Finish the Sentence Friday bloghop. The idea is quite simple. A sentence is left un-finished (not Finnish, despite our title). Everyone is invited to complete the sentence and then head over to Kristi’s or Vic’s and link your post. That way everyone else can read and comment.
This week the sentence, it is
“When it comes to Halloween…”
“…Halloween is the Highest of all Holidays for my people*.
On that last night of October, we Outsiders are all, like, George Bailey (after being re-programmed by Clarence) or Ebenezer Scrooge (when he wakes up Christmas Morning) or virtually every bride and groom, running through a storm of Minute Rice, racing for the privacy and protection of the waiting limo.
The thing that appeals most to clarks about Halloween is not that we get to be someone else. It’s that, for one evening, we’re not recognizable.
scotts: all cowboys and frankenstein’d and rogers: ballerinas and princesseses are all roaming the neighborhood embracing the social bonding that’s so strong in sanctioned holidays. Their choices, made only a short time before the big evening, are either to stand out (scotts) or to display personal qualities and characteristics that they (rogers) feel have been under appreciated during the other 364 later afternoon/evenings of the year.
clarks anticipate joining a celebration with a freedom possible only by virtue of anonymity. Our costumes tend to be either high contrast or rorschach-blank disguises.
There! that’s what I was looking for, the thing about clarks and Halloween? We looked forward to Halloween because wearing a disguise is not only sanctioned, it’s approved and condoned and admired.
(Funny thing about the choice of a clark’s Halloween costume, while we prefer the anonymous, non-personal ghost/spirit category of dress, maintaining the capacity for speech is critical. I mean, it only makes sense. If we go to all that trouble to disguise ourselves, in the hopes that we might be ‘just another kid’, we still need to able to say something, don’t we? lol**)
So I went through this most Peter Pan-ish celebrations of childhood, trying desperately to experience the world as did ‘the other two’. At least for one evening, it seemed possible that I was not standing apart from, not an Outsider.
Trick and/or Treat
* clarks… Outsiders. You know, the friend you have who’s really funny, ‘cept most other people think he/she is weird or kinda messed-up; the one who is really smart and can always see how to help others and yet, when they try to get a job or a girlfriend or an ‘A’, they suddenly get genuinely strange and paint their hair or wear two different colored socks and, for smart people, they’re totally clueless how they’re sabotaging themselves but they mean well and never give up on anyone but themselfs. What? Well, this is the Wakefield Doctrine, after all.
** FTSF note: This is the second FTSF post after a long hiatus and it’s already coming back to me why I was such an avid fan/participant. If one is not careful, the reflections that bounce off the clever arrangement of words into sentences can totally take you back. Parts of the self that were thought to be safely stored in attic trunks marked: CHILDHOOD end up staring back from the screen of a computer, now too far out of reach to retrieve.
About clarkscottroger
“Parts of the self that were thought to be safely stored in attic trunks marked: CHILDHOOD end up staring back from the screen of a computer, now too far out of reach to retrieve.” – How Very True!
I find this echoes of the past much more pervasive with the FTSF than any of the other ‘hops I participate in.
Kristi had a similar idea about people getting to be someone else. But YEAH for Clarks – it’s a chance to go unnoticed, be incognito. Frankly, I’m surprised I don’t enjoy the whole thing more. LOL.
hold on! who said anything about enjoyment?!! lol, just because it’s our holiday and allows us so much …whatever, don’t mean we actually have fun! lol
These sentences can take you way back. I had no intentions on writing about Halloween, but then the story was there. Good to see you again.
yeah… (still working on remembering the password that disqus requires me to remember, so I don’t have to leave my comments on your blog’s doorstep) lol
Aw, I love your ending and that you remember why you love FTSF so much – it’s so true about those boxes marked CHILDHOOD. Also, ew to your image at the top. *shudder*
Will you be dressing up this year? Do tell…
yeah. the fun of stumbling on a really good image… err, no.
So…the office where I work had everyone thinking they wanted to be a Muppet. I’ll admit it: that filled me with dread. Pure dread. Until there was one defector: she was going to be something different (even though she’s a roger…see….she’s going to be something with another staff member, but I can’t remember what now). I wanted to participate to “not rock the boat” but yay: while most are going to be muppets, I couldn’t bring myself to choose one without figuring out how not to spend a small fortune on the one time I’d be wearing that…I mean as impractical and “in my head” as I can be, practicality matters here.
I’ve been agonizing over this. I even thought, hmm…I’ll get a white t-shirt, write “404 error: costume not found” on it. That is the last resort.
For now, I’m going to go to thrift stores today (last minute, much?) and try to find something that looks like a Mad Hatter costume. If I can’t, then “the costume not found” get-up applies.
That last paragraph with the * that you said about clarks? Yeah. That. The director recently told me she’s glad I’m back at the school because “you’re brilliant and goofy and you always want to help.” Funny. The rogers recognize this in us. They just don’t know what the hell to think otherwise.
yeah, we do the creativity/originality thing way good. probably because we’re Outsiders…. creativity in rogers lies in (re)-assembling existing things in new forms and shapes… interesting but not really new.
Even knowing the Doctrine and knowing that the reality of rogers is that of emotion and conformity, tough to even try to fake it… of course, that’s what most of us end up doing, or, at least trying. course the Doctrine has the answer… if it’s real important then we need to go within and find our rogerian aspect and bring that out… but there is still the matter of skill. skill in this context is that when we’re successful in bring out our rogerian (or scottian aspect) while we’re usually capable of responding to the situation at hand, but if we attempt it when there is not a precipitating demand, then our behavior can appear a little strange and make us feel uncomfortable. rogers and scotts practice their entire lives doing the things they do (as do we clarks)… walking through an average day as a roger is a good, if not uncomfortable exercise.
good topic/comment, as usual
And that image at the top? Disturbing. You could put that new video by the band, “Disturbed” with it. You know, the “hello darkness my old friend” one. lol
When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a mascot. I still do. I love the idea of NO ONE knowing who I am. I totally vary, though. Sometimes I like to be Snow White and Supergirl and look attractive. Last year? I dressed up in an inflatable Stay Puft Marshmallow Man costume. Oh boy the looks on people’s faces when I started talking to them and they had no idea it was ME.
Magic.
yeah, there is that whole, ‘I am someone different’ for one night, at least that holds so much attraction for so many of us
Yes. I think this is true for many people I know. It’s not about “the hiding” it’s about the “fitting in”.
which, in terms of the Doctrine, clarks simply do not… fit in. the notion of being an ‘Outsider’ is interestingly difficult for those who are not (scotts and rogers) to appreciate. It is not a matter of degree is is a matter of position. I’ve found one of the simplest ways for people to decide which of the three personality types they are is to present the following and ask if it sounds right…. ‘when I wake up in the morning, one of the first things I do is consider how I will contend with the world out there… (only clarks will, ‘yeah, ok, whats so weird about that? lol)