Propah Whippah

Dear Blog Diary,
"I still wanna see you eat, just not at my table." 2Pac

When you take a huge fall in climbing, it’s called a whip. And if you want to be a cheeky British buggah about it, you call it a propah whippah (it is a called a whip but the rest is just Eric being weird).

Now the whip I took was planned, it's just that my brother told Alex to give me even more slack basically to scare me, and I also had extra slack to clip in at the top, which I didn’t do. I knew it was coming and everything was safe, but thing is, you do expect the rope to catch you but for a whip like that, when it doesn’t, in that split second when you’re wildly insecure and you start to wonder if the catch is coming or you deck.

“Decking” is when you hit the ground.

You ever give a real good look at just about anyone in history? Take Gandhi. He used non-violence from a weaker position to fight the bigger stronger British imperialistic threat to his country. He was an educated lawyer that fought for human rights and India’s independence while facing racism. He also wrote some seriously racist shit about Jews and Africans that if I told you Hitler wrote it, you’d believe me. And you know the stories about his relationship with women.

He was also a direct inspiration to Martin Luther King.

Thing to remember is, people themselves are complicated and Gandhi was a person. Was he a courageous man that played a role in the human race being better off? YES. Was he a product of his pre/post WWII era? YES. Was he a bigoted sexist schmuck? YES. Did he lose his temper, be an asshole, lie, make someone smile, help those in need? YES!!

Just depends on the lens we choose to view a person. Does one negate the other? Not in my opinion. Historical figures are 3 dimensional complex entities just like us. They have fucked up relationships with their parents, they bicker with their spouses, they love their dog too. The complexity builds with each layer.

Every person, regardless the lens, is an opportunity to let them deck or catch them when they whip. Remember, they are as insecure as you.

I don't want you to deck, but doesn't mean you're welcome at my table.

E
#ARTiculate