A stand-up comedian/actor and ex-marine (wounded) was interviewed on the radio this morning. He explained why he wanted to follow a career on the stage: he loves attention. He went on to say that attention seeking is disapproved of, but that did not, and will not, stop him from seeking attention. There is nothing wrong with attention seeking, he said……….
………….except, I say, that attention seeking leads to autism. But ignorance is bliss!!! However, one can only wonder at an ex-marine being an attention seeker and being wounded out………maybe one could spot some connection here? Maybe military people are better to avoid being seen, as a means to avoiding becoming a target…
………….yes, I think it was best that he changed his profession to acting……….possibly just in time to save his life. Well, maybe the attention seeking lost him a few limbs, but hey, he didn’t lose his life, so what’s wrong with attention seeking???!!!??
Indeed, I am happy to be able to inform you that a significant number of other lives, if not limbs, have been saved by the expedient of transferring a number of other “targets” out of the military and onto the stage. If you wish to see this talented troupe in action (I’m sure their standard is better than It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum) then they are currently touring the UK, barring time out for medically induced comas and other unforeseeable mishaps such as inevitably beset the heavily drugged, in the play The Two Worlds of Charlie F.
But back to autism………….and another thing occurs to me: those who seek attention do so at the expense of GIVING attention. It seems to me that this is almost as bad, maybe even worse, than making a target of oneself. For if one has made a virtue of ignoring other people then I cannot but see that to join the military will throw one into a situation where ignoring other people is, to put it mildly, EXTREMELY dangerous. I know one does not like to admit it, but the enemy, after all, ARE other people, and other people that one really, really wants to keep an eye on.