PenteKing’s BodyBlog

By their very nature, bodybuilders are a lonely breed. What we do is basically a solitary pursuit. A few of us have steady workout partners, but for the most part, bodybuilders walk their path by themselves. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Being an individual is not easy. The mob wants you to conform – they want you to go with the flow – they want you to “fit in”. People who are unique and different are looked at suspiciously. “How,” people wonder, “can he (or she) do that all by themselves? There must be something strange about them.”

I celebrate the individual. No achievement in the history of the human world was ever conceived by committee. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon – one of the one’s ancient seven wonders – was realized through the imagination of one man. Einstein formulated his theory of relativity without consulting anyone else. Mohandas K. Gandhi freed an entire nation through his single-minded belief in his creed. In the spirit of these (and countless other) rare human spirits, I offer the following thoughts.

“The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely.” – Lorraine Hansberry

“I am not eccentric. It’s just that I am more alive than most people. I am an unpopular electric eel set in a pond of goldfish.” – Dame Edith Sitwell

“The enthusiastic, to those who are not, are always something of a trial.” – Alban Goodier

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

“When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in confederacy against him.” – Jonathan Swift

“Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” – Barbara Kingsolver

“If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius

And lastly,

“Every single one of us can do things that no one else can do. We are like violins. We can be used as doorstops, or we can make music. You know what to do.” – Barbara Sher

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.