I have friends and family members that prefer to exist in a state of perpetual motion. I’m not entirely certain why, and when I question them about their motion motivation I can’t help but speculate that they don’t know why either.
I have some theories though, so let’s begin with idle hands are the devil’s workshop. I checked the google and was mildly surprised to find that the actual quote is from proverbs 16;27 and it goes like this. A worthless man digs up evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. Somehow those words were altered by Saint Jerome and Chaucer and eventually we ended up with the devils workshop. Like all institutional handbooks, the bible and the words that comprise scripture become a tool in the hands of those that provide the interpretation. The primary goal of the interpreters is to sustain and protect the institution. In order to do that you need to keep people from thinking about why the interpreters hands are callous free, and the best way to do that is to keep them busy surviving.
Lords of the land ascribed to this view as well, and from the fields of Northumbria to the sands of Alexandria, the people in charge understood that building pyramids and tending the fields kept the riffraff from thinking about methods to hasten the pharos’s interment in the granite polyhedron they were currently constructing.
Idle hands gives people time to think, and thinking is dangerous to the status quo. The Lords weren’t incorrect by the way. Consider that the people of the Western world have more leisure time on their hands now than any other time in history. And we spend that time getting fat and looking for internet assholes to provide us with reasons to hate people that look, think or act differently from us.
What the Lords and Priests realized is that time to think can provide progress but it’s much more likely to produce chaos. Chaos can be societal and chaos can be personal. In fact, it’s likely that every person has a moment or two of personal panic of purpose, and an efficient method to avoid that unpleasantry is to stay busy and evade the stress of esoteric pursuit.
So, I think some of the perpetual motion people understand that prolonged introspection is going to make them fucking crazy, and it’s a much better situation for them and the people around them if they’re physically occupied and effectively distracted. Also, these people should have a mandatory emergency radio transmission that intones perpetual motion 1, going dark. Kind of like one of those amber alerts that freezes your phone, because once left to their own thoughts they tend to focus on destruction with the same enthusiasm their prior activity focused on construction.
(I’m going to label the perpetual motion people the PMP’s. Much less ponderous.)
So, there’s a percentage of the PMP’s that fear their darkside, and I’ve got to say that I respect that they recognize this aspect of their persona. The world is better served having them continuously construct, rather than even momentarily deconstruct. Of course it would be best if they constructed something of value, but deciding to paint the house for the second time this year is still a much better alternative than burning the house down for the second time this year.
So all the more power to the PMP painters and putterers. May their distractions continue to prevent disasters to themselves and to anyone within collateral damage range.
As I mentioned the PMP can and often do produce value. Everyone on the planet over the age of five should understand the satisfaction felt from a task performed well. I think that a percentage of the PMP population are addicted to this sensation. The feeling a person gets from a perfectly mowed lawn, or a thoroughly cleaned house. Instant gratification activities that provide accomplishment vibes and the happy little tingle that goes with being pleased with yourself. This accomplishment tingle isn’t necessarily exclusive to building something. The same sensation can be achieved with a road trip to a previously unvisited location, or from a daily exercise routine. I find that this subset of PMP’s often need to do any thing as often as doing something specific.
As long as they’re on the move then their addiction is satisfied. I’ve also noticed that a goodly portion of this group likes or is compelled to keep a daily achievement scorecard, and will also happily keep a scorecard for others in their immediate circle.
Because as one of the PMP’s in my immediate social circle explained to me, you have to earn your end of day beer. Or beers, depending on how well you marked up your scorecard.
Some PMP’s make plans and some PMP’s don’t sweat the details. I prefer the planners, because although spontaneous PMP’s can occasionally produce a memorable moment, the lack of planning is also capable of producing a moment that’s memorable for all the wrong reasons. However, the non-planning PMP’s show remarkable fuck up amnesia, and a litany of errors and omissions from previous adventures don’t appear to dampen their enthusiasm for their next impromptu escapade.
There are solo PMP’s and there are PMP’s that require an entourage. The solo PMP’s can generate moderate inconvenience, but those entourage fuckers can be a nightmare, particularly if they’re the non-planning variety. I can’t quite grasp the reasoning from the entourage PMP’s. Sometimes I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they just want company and choosing you as their motion mate is a compliment. Other times I think its a control issue, and they need to validate their impulsion for motion by assuring themselves that company equates to agreement that whatever the fuck they’re up to is cogent.
Sometimes the PMP adventure seems like a good idea, but I demur because I can’t shake the feeling I’m being manipulated, or that I’m just not up to an invariable side quest that the PMP’s relish.
In my more charitable moments I understand that the PMP’s measure their self worth by what they’ve accomplished on any given day. I understand that they see a Netflix and chill day as a wasted twenty four hours that they can’t get back.
But on my less charitable days I think they need to settle the fuck down. Whatever accomplishment they’ve managed with chaotic frenzy is relatively inconsequential to the overall state of worldly affairs, and there’s a decent chance that their pursuit of diversion is self serving enough to be a pain in the ass for the rest of us.
On my days of lesser understanding I’m pleased if the PMP’s can function in solo mode without a crisis.
But solo PMP’s are a rarity, and even those who have managed to acquire the ability tend to only amuse themselves for a limited amount of time. Eventually and invariably they need a retinue.
However, I’m determined to remain selectively insouciant to their demands. I think it makes the PMP crazy but It’s my way of bringing balance to the world.
And we need balance.