2012 Olympics - Competitive Facebooking

I saw part of a programme the other night about how artworks have increasingly become a commodity. The critic presenting the show was shown to have been prophetic when on film he foresaw this change of attitude towards art in the 1960s. The catalyst for this had been the lending of the Mona Lisa to the US in the 1960s and the high level of wonder around it.

As thousands of people queued to glimpse the famous artwork the critic noted how people didn’t come to look at the Mona Lisa they wanted to have seen it – two very different reasons.

This reminded me of a very sad but thought provoking article I’d read in a woman’s magazine a few years ago. A young woman was diagnosed with terminal cancer and she was recalling how it was not the fear of death that struck at first but the fear of not doing all those things you must do before you die. She rushed to Egypt to see the pyramids but whilst there would preferred to have been at home, watching tv with her family.

This ‘you must’ do/see/experience list has often fascinated me. No-one knows who penned it but it haunts you throughout you days. One of the greatest areas of the ‘must do’ is travel. There was a time when to say you went to Europe ensured you were one up on the Joneses, then it was America, then India, Africa…

Now the trend is you must go off track, there must be an element of adventure, and add in raising some money for charity if it feels too indulgent.

The social networking sites breed one-upmanship like bacteria on a toilet seat. Many use it as the public checklist to show off how many ‘musts’ they have ticked off. And if you look up old acquaintances on Friends Reunited no-one is married with children, they are happily married with beautiful children (and politeness dictates that when you are faced with 15 public albums of the beautiful children you can’t say your first thought which is ‘That reminds me. Chimera, that was a good series’). If Friends Reunited is to be believed we really live in a country full of contented married people, with delightful offspring, in jobs they love.

You can be assured that any future photograph I foist upon you will be of a place, experience or thing that I have genuinely felt compelled to visit, partake in or wonder upon. This may be the Empire State Building but it may just as easily be a rainy afternoon in Morecombe. I have no desire to see the Mona Lisa, visit the Taj Mahal or read War and Peace, and am confident I will not regret it on my deathbed.

If you are not careful and spend too much time doing what you you must do before you die you'll find you've run out of time to just live.

With blogs (or certainly the blogs I like to read) people are a bit more nitty gritty. With aliases and initials protecting the innocent we get to hear how delightful offspring make their parents rue the day the condom split and daydreams of lottery wins so the tedious job can be dumped with a fanfare where the trumpet ends up the boss’s arse.

But I have to say…

Today I’m really loving my job. Sorry.

Comments

[Steg]

Don't apologise for enjoying your job! Lucky lady.

Although I do daydream of that lottery win.....

[Kate]

No, never read War and Peace, it's really long and so not worth it. But if you see a second-hand copy going cheap grab it, it makes an excellent doorstop.

[Pete]

I don't read anything because I should and I don't think the places I go to would make the list do you?

[Manic Panic]

A friend of mine is currently living with terminal cancer. The only place at the moment he wants to be is at work. He said exactly the same as you his life would be over even quicker if the tried to pack to o many visits to must see place. He feels happy and relaxed at the moment just to be around familiar places and people. If you love your job like my mate be happy you are lucky.