Fun Pilgrim @tasshinfogleman · Aug 12
i want to do an experiment!
mutuals, if U so choose:
1) respond to this tweet indicating interest, consent
2) as I am ready, i will ask U a genuinely curious, heartfelt question, publicly here or privately in our DM's
3) U answer, as U feel ready, in public here, or privately where U like, or even alone in the presence of God—U answer honestly, earnestly, fully
4) when U feel the weight of what receiving my question meant, what answering it transformed for U, U offer a gift in return that feels aligned for U, with ur circumstances, means, and the import of this interaction
U choose to receive this question, to embark on this journey of curiosity, of ur own free will!
Mine:
what inspires U? why? what does it move in ur heart? what actions does it inspire U to take?
for some years now it's been endurance sports, especially team endurance sports.
i started watching sportscar racing some years back and the unique team dynamic of it compared to one-on-one or one-team-on-one-team stick and ball sports is fascinating to me. a whole team of people work on this complicated machine, tweak and trim it, min/max, and get to know it intimately and care for it over twelve or twenty four hours of running it, pushing their minds and bodies and machines to the extreme for that brief period of time. And dozens of other teams are doing this in the same field at the same time. You're competing against yourself and your limits as much as you're competing with anyone else on the track, lap after lap hour after hour -- the cars are often the same or built to a specification that makes them run so close that you could be five or ten seconds in front of your competition after 24 hours, enough that even one little extra push a little bit past the ragged edge in the last hour could propel your team to the top.
the driving duties are shared between three or four people, the folks who know those machines mostly as an extension of their own body; rarely is one more privileged or seen as the "lead" driver. some pay to be there, some are paid to be there, but there is a whole group behind the scenes pushing for the success of their rockstar drivers. the mechanics and strategists and support crews feel the machine in their bones as well even if their name isn't on the side of the car.
multi-stage events like tour de france or rally racing is another angle on this, where you have a team of riders and support crew who all sort of have their own goal, but the ultimate goal of the team is to propel their best rider to the top of the general classification at the end of the final stage and they ride together and strategize together to do this. You'll have some of the best cyclists in the world acting as a "servant" for their team and the lead riders, creating a positive-sum situation by setting pace, leading out their sprinters, swapping to the front to break the wind for their group, going back to get water bottles for their team, etc.
It is they who ride out into the wind so their aces can get an easier ride tucked inside their wheel [close to the rider in front and in his shelter]. Rare indeed is the major victory that cannot be credited in large part to the groundwork laid by the domestiques.
the 24 hours of le mans, tour de france, point-to-point rally racing, all these sorts of things bring me to some points:
even if you break down in the first hour or the first stage and spend the next four repairing your car or running it back, it's important to be out there showing up and putting in progress and simply being at the finish even if you don't believe you can win outright or be #1, because the people you're competing with could always break down with three minutes to go.
and even if they don't, the depth of relation with your team and tools is forged in ways that neither practice nor domination can bring you. the shared experience of a group working together toward a singular goal is extremely powerful. the progress we make together is bigger and carries more momentum than solitary practices. tuned in to the same machine, the same circumstances, the same goals, the same struggles: this brings minds and souls together
there are multiple axes i can as an individual compete to win on in the same event: event overall classification, hill climbs, sprints, number of stage wins, championship season points, etc. True to life in many ways, we choose the axes we compete on as individuals and groups. one can be the domestique for another's goals while also working toward their own individual goals.
i dont need to be the person who soaks in the attention of victory to feel it in my heart or reap the rewards, my heart can be filled by the success of anyone aligned with my goals and who bend the world in the direction i lever it. i can Be The Lion's Rear.