This is a test.
A test to see if I can write. A test to see if I will write.
The idea behind “The Middle” is simple: Middle Child Syndrome. I don’t know whether that is scientifically proven or not, but it sounds good; people understand it. I crave attention, I want to be heard, but I feel lost in my familial position. Dealing with the bigger, stronger, smarter older brother and the can-do-no-wrong younger sister takes a lot out of a person. I don’t expect most people to understand, because (statistically speaking) only 1 in 3 of you will be a middle child.
The Middle is more than a syndrome that costs $150/hour to diagnose. It is the embodiment of where I stand. ”Middle of the Road” can describe my politics, religious standpoint, ideas about foreign policy, and position in the world. I am the 3rd party in a tug-of-war: the rope. Instead of static points on either side of the muddy divide, the rope traverses without committing one side. That rhymed. Unintentional. I can be shades of sense and sensibility, with hints of liberal and conservatism, and tinges of spirituality and rationalism. I can be Hawkeye Pierce, Sheldon Cooper, Lloyd Christmas, or Spock.
In the words of Whitman, I contain multitudes.
My position is far from unique among my peers. We are constantly trying to be heard, and constantly pulled–much like the rope. We spent our childhood without computers, and our teenage years with. We feel the influences of post-war baby boomer children and the pull of the digital world. The stability and pride of a lifetime career has been replaced by the constant need to make more money, and gain notoriety: to do something that others see as meaningful. We are told that we are members of the greatest Country in the world, but our politics divide us as we watch other countries grow to rival ours.
This is a test. I am trying to find my voice, and in doing so, find our voice.
glad to see i’m bigger, stronger and smarter. i was beginning to worry about this stuff.