I chalked something on the board this morning that won’t leave me alone: It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. Oscar Wilde wrote it
That line isn’t supposed to be advice, but more of an accusation.
We all started out copying someone else when we were young. You watch who survives and cling to it. You borrow the voice that gets listened to the most. You learn which corners not to cut. That isn't cowardice, but more apprenticeship.
But apprenticeship is supposed to end.
Somewhere along the line, copying turns into cover and before you know it you have Milli-Vanillied your life... You search for your own tone. You try desperately to find your posture and your own balance in life. You end up keeping the version of yourself that doesn’t cause trouble. Not because it’s true, but because it works.
Here is the question I don’t like asking, which usually means it is the right one: Who have I been playing all these years?
Not who I was at work.
Not who I was supposed to be at home.
Not who kept things moving and didn’t complain.
Who am I when I stop selling the facade of someone else?
Originality isn’t about being different. That is a cheap flashbang. Originality is about being accurate to yourself
Accurate to what you have carried on your back.
Accurate to what you have lost down the line.
Accurate to the way you see people when no one is grading you.
Failing as yourself hurts. There is never a cushion when that happens, but living as a copycat... That is a long, quiet rot.
Pitchers and catchers are starting to report to camp. I'm not really excited about the prospects that my ball club possesses.
I long for the day I had to wrap foil on the rabbit-ear just to get a signal for channel 44. Today you gotta shell out thirty bucks a month to listen to horseshit announcers candy-coat a crappy baseball team.
Not for me......
