A friend just sent me a man dancing at a bus stop. This man is not a street performer. He’s your everyday fella.
In the video I was struck by people snickering at him as they walked by. People stare, and yet, he is fit and happy. They, maybe not so much.
We ooze uptight-ness to our own demise.
Oh, and it starts early. Shevonne (Director of Health Promotion at our Vermont school employee health trust) was at her daughter’s eighth grade graduation party last week. There was a DJ. Picture a blob of girls on one side of the yard and a blob of boys on the other, dance floor in between.
Shevonne got fed up and decided to dance thinking maybe that would get the kids interested and out of their inhibitions.
No such luck. The daughter’s friend leans over and says, “Is your mom drunk?”
For real.
Today we learned about a brilliant online gamer, Jane McGonigal, PhD (that’s right, gaming and PhD appeared in the same sentence), who built a program to get people to go outside and move like fascinating mythical beasts. It’s one of her many ways to help gamers use their massive virtual talent for good in the real world. What an amazing concept.
And yet, people stop and stare. I’d be afraid to act like a beast. Heck, I even feel funny standing up in a meeting and stretching.
This has got to stop. America the Judgy, cut it out!
How will we EVER get out of our own way if we continue to be so darn uptight?
McGonigal reminds us that kids are spending the same amount of time online as they are in the classroom, and in both they sit. They sit learning. They sit gaming. The news is, however, gamers are finally taking notice and trying to excite us to our feet (note the competition between the Nintendo Wii-Fit and Xbox Kinect). What’s cool about gamers, too, much like teachers, is that they will not be denied. They are massively successful at perseverance, resolve and problem solving. Indeed, McGonigal believes gamers could solve world hunger if put to the test.
Could it be possible then that the world of gaming, the very same that pinned us to our chairs, will be responsible for dumping us out of them? Dare I hope? I’m wildly optimistic. I believe in them. As the gamer’s creativity blossoms to build health lifting microcosms, the only thing that can undermine it is the uptightness in us.
If we can’t feel the beat, where does that leave us? Who do we become? Frustrated and disparaging nay-sayers; or simply and aptly named: Grumpy-pants.
Since I refused to be labeled as such I choose to join bus-stop man at his game…. Here’s my vow (say it with me, now)…
The next time I see a person dancing for the fun of it, instead of staring and scoffing, I vow to be reminded of the great opportunity before me and say “Oh, yeah, me too,” and then fearlessly move to the rhythm in my bones.