“When you look like you can catch, people will throw things at you”
I wrote this in 2023 and I find myself returning to it every now and then. It’s probably one of my favorite sentences I’ve ever written because it packs so much density in interpretation. And it’s about the concepts that I love thinking about - ability, growth, and perception as you navigate a social space.
The idea of people who LARP is one that they’re not true to the game. They’re not authentic. This sentence could be taken as a warning to them. Be prepared because you’ve put up this performance, people are naturally going to test it.
There’s no malice in the sentence. People can throw things like the cliche of the father tossing a football to his child. Or your sibling tossing something to you when you’re not looking. And of course, there’s the idea of audience rebuke. A crowd filled will displeasure may throw tomatoes at you. Can you stomach it?
It also speaks to opportunity. Image carries so much weight. How people feel around you dictates how they’ll treat you. If you want to be seen as more capable, stronger, bolder, you can start by looking the part. Looking the part is enough to get the small tests you need to truly embody the part.