Infinite Variety

[rj_anderson]

Dear Stephen Fry:

You are a very funny and talented man, and I am not at all surprised that you are also an enormous geek. I am amazed, however, by the sheer insane length of your first blog post, and the fact that it is all about electronic gadgetry. I don't know why I expected you to still write everything down on parchment with a fountain pen and use only public telephones, but for some reason I did.

Really, the sheer complexity of people never fails to surprise me.

Which has inspired me to create a meme of sorts:

1. Tell me one thing about yourself that you think I might be really surprised to hear, and/or
2. Tell me one thing about myself that really surprised you when you found out.

And now I must go and unravel part of Chapter Four which isn't working, so that I can feel happy about carrying on with Chapter Five.

Comments

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm....

1. I'd be legally blind without my contacts...does that count as surprising? :-)

2. I remember being quite shocked to see photos in which you seemed to be wearing a head covering, because most people I know who do that are extremely (and I do mean to-the-point-of-crazy extremely) opposed to anything that even smells of SF&F fiction, and they wouldn't be caught dead surfing the internet, much less have a blog and use lolcats grammar in their post headings. :-) So it was a very pleasant shock. (and do correct me if my assumption was wrong, btw.)

[kerravonsen]

Yes, I remember being surprised about the head-covering, myself.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Well, if it makes things any clearer, I only wear the head covering during church meetings, not all the time. The idea is that when believers in Christ gather together, a woman should voluntarily and of her own free will cover her own glory (i.e. her hair) in order to symbolize her willing obedience to God's authority in the church, and so that the focus may be on His glory instead.

It's interesting to me that to this day the idea persists that men should uncover their heads in church as a sign of respect, but the idea of women covering their heads for the same reason has fallen out of disfavor. I suspect this is because the head covering for women has been mistaken for a sign of oppressiveness, an attempt to hide women from view and treat them as second-class citizens in the church, but that's not what it means at all.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I kind of figured it was a church-only thing with you (having seen other pics where you're *not* wearing it). :-)

And I'm aware of the Scriptural idea behind it. I don't do it myself, partly because I have never met a head covering (hat, hood, what have you) that agreed with me in terms of fitting or not making me feel off balance (I've just never liked hats), and also because I don't think that people need to be that literal about the sign of authority. To me, it's in the same category as taking the passage about dressing modestly "without the braiding of hair or the wearing of gold jewelry" to absolutely forbid doing my hair up in some fashion for church (as opposed to leaving it hanging down), or wearing earrings or a pendant or the ring my parents gave me.

But I certainly don't have a problem with other people doing it, because it is a thing done to the glory of God.

I suspect this is because the head covering for women has been mistaken for a sign of oppressiveness, an attempt to hide women from view and treat them as second-class citizens in the church, but that's not what it means at all.

You're so right, it doesn't mean that...but I'm pretty sure, based on some people I know in certain churches where I grew up, it has sometimes been used exactly like that. Which is depressing--people in our generation question the true meaning of such a gesture or tradition, without it being obscured by those who misuse it.