On why inactivity while chasing after a ping-pong ball gets you nowhere.

I once had a blog, which was mildly interesting and having lost the blog through inactivity (I basically ignored reminders to renew it until it was gone), I was left feeling ever so slightly stupid.

On the positive side though (there’s always one if you look for it!), it’s also made me question what I and others generally do and don’t do and why…

...put another way, my inaction has lead me to reflect on my action.

Now, I mentioned I felt stupid, didn't I? 

Well, as we all know, stupidity is measured in terms of how other people see it! So, to cut to the chase, how do you feel when you actually feel stupid?

For a start, how do you know? 

You know because others have defined it for you in relation to whatever yardstick is being used at that time to measure your particular level of stupidity.

It strikes me that the yardstick has become as simple as your amount of inaction as opposed to your action.

Now, imagine this.

You’re happily playing ping-pong in a public place with plenty of people around. Nobody takes any notice because it's a normal thing to do until that is, you take a swing, miss the ball and it bounces away.

Now, if you’ve ever chased after a ping-pong ball, you’ll know where this is going.

You're first impulse is to chase after it so you can carry on with your game, so you do.

You chase it and chase it and the people stop to watch.

It’s funny seeing you chase that ping-pong ball and you start looking and feeling like an idiot. 

So you try to chase after it with as much inactivity as you can muster.

Problem is, inactivity while chasing after a ping-pong ball gets you nowhere, so what do you do?

Give up the chase?

Now, that would be stupid - least you can do is have something to show for the humiliation...

Besides, no ping-pong ball means no game of ping pong.

But you'd save face...

...in this sense, inactivity gets you everywhere, but only if saving face is what's important to you in life.

It's true, be inactive and save face, but if you chase that ping-pong ball no matter how stupid it looks, think of the respect you'll get when you finally catch it!

You'll be remembered too - not for how stupid you looked, but for having the where-with-all to keep chasing...

There's a message in there somewhere and I'd love to hear what you think…

Thanks for reading!

J.D.