The enthusiasm and passion were infectious (perhaps the wrong word!), each and every member of the team seemed to demonstrate the same attributes, from the moment of arrival to realisation it was all over and you were back in the car park. It was like being swept along on a gentle tide of joy and comfort, delicate fronds nudging you along the conveyor towards the needle of liberation. And everyone else I’ve spoken to who has had their first injection seemed to feel the same, that universal feeling of emotion and pride when people come together to do good things – it bodes well that when liberation finally does return, we won’t have forgotten that we are a Society, that selflessness always trumps selfishness in the card game of life, that with a dose of enthusiasm, mixed with a spoonful of passion, we still know how to make a total which is far greater than the sum of the parts – it’s time we got our skates back on!
With so many exclamation marks, the poem ‘Tis So Much Joy by Emily Dickinson seems full of excitement and about ‘having a go’ – if the result is failure, so what? better to try and fall than not try at all – skate on.
‘Tis so much joy! ‘Tis so much joy!
If I should fail, what poverty!
And yet, as poor as I,
Have ventured all upon a throw!
Have gained! Yes! Hesitated so –
This side the Victory!
Life is but Life! And Death, but Death!
Bliss is, but Bliss, and Breath but Breath!
And if indeed I fail,
At least, to know the worst, is sweet!
Defeat means nothing but Defeat,
No drearier, can befall!
And if I gain! Oh Gun at Sea!
Oh Bells, that in the Steeples be!
At first, repeat it slow!
For Heaven is a different thing,
Conjectured, and waked sudden in –
And might extinguish me!
Passion runs through our Coles Signed Editions this week in plentiful supply – ‘The Boy’ by Richard Williams tells the remarkable story of the remarkable Stirling Moss – ‘An automobile race in which Stirling Moss drives a car can have one of two endings. Either Moss wins, or Moss breaks down and someone else wins’; journalist Simon Barnes examines passion and motivation in the world of sport in ‘Epic’; the collective passion and resilience in an entire city is a joyful thing in Craig Taylor’s ‘New Yorkers’; another motor racer, known as Mr Le Mans, Tom Kristensen appears to have no off switch; Musician Tracey Thorn swims against the tide with her good friend Lindy Morrison; it’s easy to forget what pioneers The Beatles were when they emerged into the world as fully formed game changers – the paperback of Craig Brown’s award winning ‘One, Two, Three, Four’ is now available; Alistair Campbell’s diaries of political chaos continue; but some of the important stuff can be found with Sam Lee and Ray Mears, and finally our storytellers this week are Simon Scarrow, Sue Divin and Jackie Polzin.
