The show must go on

Well, the show goes on whether you are there or not, is more accurate.

Hello everyone! Apologies for the extended gap between articles, at the end of my last post I did say I’d be back in September, and this didn’t turn out to be the case, so I’m sorry for that. I don’t wish to labour why I’ve been absent, but it did spawn the idea for this article. Put it this way, the internet and my social media following didn’t lose sleep because of the dearth of my creations these past six weeks!

There is some utility in consciously recognising our relative insignificance, in some sense, but it’s not so much that as it is realising where – and amongst whom, more importantly – your absence is significant.

"The show must go on." Photo by Kyle Smith on Unsplash.

 “The show must go on” is an old showbusiness phrase – and a song by Queen – used to illustrate that people are here to see something regardless of what is going on behind the scenes. The alteration I made is to highlight that if you aren’t able or willing to front up, the show happens regardless, and someone else will act as your substitute (temporary) or replacement (permanent). This is if you view yourself as the actor in the show. If I don’t write there is a plethora of other people who will, and if I don’t write the audience of my show will go elsewhere (and possibly never come back if the absence is long enough).

You could also think about it like an employee-employer relationship, if you no longer work at your current job will the show go on? Will they find someone else to play your role? I don’t have to answer that for you.

Now, if you are a member of the audience it also rings true. If you don’t turn up to the show are they going to cancel the screening? Unlikely. You could view this as things you are interested in or where your attention is being occupied. As an observer from outside America, I maintain that the US Presidential election is the greatest show on earth, and it too will also go on (and eventually conclude) independent of viewership. There are people with millions of followers online who I’ve never heard of. Over 500 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute which I have no chance of ever watching. A growing excess of causes and concerns I increasingly do not have the cognitive and emotive power nor hours in the day to attend to.

I can’t help but feel sometimes we are swimming through a sea of irrelevance. Now, people feeling irrelevant is not a new sensation, although it probably has been exacerbated in modern times. Also, the sea of irrelevance that we’re having to navigate has gotten deeper and more congested. So, it’s not that we just have to contend with our own sense of irrelevance, but we are also having to contend with the multitude of irrelevance which exists around us, and to plot a discernible path through it so we don’t drown in it. I hope my articles over the years have helped you on your quest.

Returning to the idea of your absence being significant, crucially the environments and the people which facilitate such phenomena, you don’t have to be the show or the big ticket for your absence to be noticeable. I feel for a lot of people out there who don’t believe they’ll ever be sorely missed, that any one truly cares whether they’re there or not. Giving a truthful performance is usually a good recipe for genuine connection as people don’t tend to gravitate towards inauthentic actors.

“No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.” – Carl Jung

I hope my show is worth attending, and I hope I can keep performing my show for the benefit of not only myself, but my audience.

I want to keep my show free and available for everyone, but to continue to do so I need to be financially supported elsewhere otherwise my show might have a bit of a short run haha. Please consider donating at one of the links below, if you are able to do so, I would very much appreciate it.

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