Last month I finally finished my book, Memoirs of a Buccaneer: 30 Years Before the Mast. It was extremely cathartic.
As my friend Cassie and I poured over the pages and I made the numerous revisions, I suddenly began to understand that I have lived a fairly remarkable life up to now. Granted, these were only my memoirs as a pirate entertainer. If I was to write a second book about just my personal experiences it would be another barn burner.
However, it began to become clear to me that I am not a fan of the status quo. In fact, I seem to be so unfamiliar with the term that I had to look it up.
Here’s what I found:
Status Quo: The state of things; the way things are, as opposed to the way they could be; the existing state of affairs.
Perhaps it’s the curse of a creative, a gypsy, a bon vivant or a dreamer that the status quo is so foreign. I imagine most people spend their entire lives trying to achieve a status quo in their lives – stability, predictability and sustainability.
Obviously, that is not in my DNA. That’s not to say that I willingly throw away everything I’ve worked for and ruin my life intentionally, or even unintentionally. I have indeed screwed things up very badly at times, feeling a need to shake up my life.
I guess the status quo had simply become too much for me. I’m not really sure which part of it. I’m certainly not adverse to the “status” part of the equation. I am certainly not anti-status. So it must be the “quo” part.
I had to look it up, too. And here’s what I discovered. Quo without status really doesn’t have any useful meaning. In legal circles, I gleaned that it means loosely which, which really doesn’t mean a thing.
So, I will go with the quo as the source of this problem I have. Without it, I would be able to just report on my status at any particular point, without having to decide whether or not it was sustainable or not, good or bad or even tenable.
Instead, I could just give someone the big thumbs up whenever someone asked my about my status. But as soon as they ask me if I am good with the staus quo, all hell breaks loose.
Damn that quo. Why does it always have to screw things up for me?
I really didn’t know it was really such a troublemaker, until I wrote the memoirs. Then I realized that my status quo has always been up in the air, largely because of my gypsy, wandering ways. I’ve mentioned them in other RobZerrvations, the many moves I’ve made, the different careers, the places I’ve been and the things I’ve done.
But compressing a large part of my life into 431 pages really crystalized it for me. I had no idea that my entire life really hasn’t been about stability, but about upheaval and change.
That’s not to say I don’t like things to remain the same. For example, I have come to discover that I really like having a roof over my head, food in my tummy, some money in the bank, my bills paid and my health generally good.
I think that’s a pretty good status report on my life. I have come to be very happy and content because of these key points about my life. And even though the roof issue has changed alarmingly fast at times, I can still say that I my status is damned happy these days.
But then, inevitably, quo enters the picture, screwing everything up. Suddenly, I am required to expand on these key points and am supposed to be able to discuss their sustainability into the future.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years is that I don’t seem to go with the quo. I am no a big fan of it. I associate it with boredom and a blah existence.
Now, if you think that addressing the quo issue requires huge life changes, such as moving to another state or leaving what appears to everyone else to be a great relationship, you’re wrong. Yes, this has happened, but often the little changes are far more interesting to me, such as chopping off my long hair a couple months ago. They up end the quo without any significant changes in relationship status or home address.
As such, they can do the trick, and in many cases, they can do it better than a bigger change in my status.
Though others claim to enjoy the status quo and even seek it, I think they are being a bit delusional. If you are a status quo’er, I can sense that your hackles are being raised.
But let’s look at this objectively. If you were really a fan of the status quo, then you would be content to have vanilla every time you have ice cream. You would never have a craving for Rocky Road or Spumoni. Vanilla is perfect. Maybe French Vanilla, if you’re really in a crazy, chance taking mood. The same would be true of the rest of your life. The same thing for breakfast, the same drink in a bar, the same position in the sack.
Sounds exciting doesn’t it, Defenders of the Status Quo. I know all about the DSQ and your efforts to defame all of us who march to a different drummer. You want us all to assimilate and march to the same beat. Wear the same blue suit with the American flag on it, go to church on Sunday, protect the interests of big business, kick the little guy when he’s down and convince us that your ideals should be the status quo, not our own.
But I won’t bend. I won’t even acknowledge the quo. You can keep it for all I care. I will continue to do my own thing, swim against the current of public opinion, ignore the dire warnings of those who aren’t my true friends and soldier on, knowing that life is here to live, fully and uncompromisingly with no quo to coerce me into walking the line.
Out on the Treasure Coast, writing today’s quota of words before moving onto another project on famous quotes. Hey, wait a minute… who snuck the quo’s into my life?
– Robb