Lemmings

It's a well known fact that Lemmings are little rodents which, when chased by a threatening predator, will follow each other to the point of jumping off a cliff. I know this not because of any great research I've done, but because a few decades back, there was a documentary about Lemmings in which they were filmed flinging themselves over a cliff, one after another. It was said that they were of such a pack mentality that they would follow each other over a cliff to their death... just to follow each other. In reality, they were all being chased by a "predator" camera crew driving them over the edge. Very sad.

However, for the sake of argument, what I don't like about the concept of "Lemmings" is the idea of going with the crowd. I've never liked going with the crowd... I wanted to be an individualist. I'm not really sure where this concept got started, but it's been going for a very long time. Let's see, I'm nearly 39... so, probably around 50 years ago... Don't worry about the math; I know it doesn't add up.

In my quest to avoid "Lemming-ness", I've done some wild things in my life. If the fashion trend was to wear to pants, then I wore dresses. If it was cool to have short hair, then I wore mine long. This past fall, I discovered that really long hair was becoming all the trend, so I cut my really loooonnnng hair off to something short and sassy. If it's very cool to drive a sleek, expensive car, I will show up in my beater farm truck, wearing overalls, no doubt. I'm not sure why, exactly, I feel a compelling need to be an individualist, but somewhere in the back of my mind, it all goes back to those Lemmings, following each other over the cliff.

Exactly for this reason, I've resisted starting a blog... "everyone is doing it". Somewhere in the back of my mind, I hear my mother's voice saying: "Well, if everyone was jumping off a cliff, would you do it?" You know, it's one of those quotes that they teach you in "Mother School". And yet, in my mind, I see those Lemmings running for the cliff again. "Don't go! Turn around!" I want to cry out to them. "Don't follow each other over the cliff!"

And now... I've become one of "them". I have a blog. Not that anyone but me will read it but, alas, it's here.

I am a Lemming...

going over the edge...

of the cliff...

Typing...

typing...

typing...

allllll

theeee

wayyyy

down.

Kerplop.