Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Greatness of The Human Spirit

My prayers tonight will include the imprecation 'Dear Lord, please, please let this be real.'

Centuries of training young Englishmen to be terrified of women has paid off handsomely in the arts and the sciences, the military and politics, in exploration, adventure, fashion and sport. Now it pays off in a way that is rather hard to define, but is clearly what all the rest was leading up to, an activity which is far beyond anything covered by the term 'eccentricity'.

It is so magnificiently pointless, so sublime in its single-minded dedication of time, money, resources and creative energy to an end that is- though brilliant on its own terms, and without doubt jawdroppingly impressive- a towering monument to nothing, a staggeringly wonderful example of everything that is not meant by 'cool' that it gives me immense pleasure to know that I share a universe with these people.

And so I give you 'Extreme Shepherding'.

2 comments:

Vincent said...

It's interesting that in such performances - street magic, crop circles, miracles at Lourdes - we want to believe, despite a trail of clues.

The Hickory Wind said...

Yes, the urge to believe it's genuine is very strong, because it would be absolutely wonderful if it were. I have to agree it's unlikely, though.