Saturday 5 March 2016

Punch Pressed

I'm like a coin, punch pressed like another in the system. Slightly individual, but still a replication.

Studying design I've realised that I've chosen to do something that makes me step over the guidance line of comfort and curriculum. It's not like design is unpopular, and it's certainly becoming something cool and 'different' to study but just as I've step over the line I'm still within the direct line of expectation.

I went to primary school, I dragged myself through high school, I had a terrible hair cut through sixth form and I even did a foundation at college. Now I'm at university, which is a choice of my own and something I've lusted to do for years; but it's painfully obvious that it's always been expected of me to do so. My parents never forced me to do so, but education had drilled into me that this was the plan.

Take me as a one pound coin, I was printed in 1994 and I've got slightly rough edges. I'm still within currency and a legal tender and it's expected that I was going to be like this. I've been working fine as expected, but 3 years ago somebody put me into a collection, put me into catergory. I'm still on the course designed for my life, but I'm being used for something different; design. I'm used for something specialist, though I'm still just as valuable as I would have been spinning through the system of British physical currency.

If you are thinking, what's with all the coin analogies—I'll explain. Recently I met a person who stands out from this, perhaps we could treat him like a Mule rather than a coin. He was punch pressed like myself, but something slightly different happened. Isaac, my friend was designed to work like everyone else in the system but he was punched slightly differently and didn't quite fit in.
This makes him more rare & more valuable but to the general consensus he was less valuable for general currency.

He left school at a young age and began to learn how to craft and learn. He built playground, he learned landscaping and spent many years learning by physical skills and adult responsibility before I even knew how anything outside of the education system.

If you weren't a collector you'd see Isaac as less valuable than me, the regular in currency coin as just legal tender. But Isaac is twice as smart as I, he could build something twice as fast as me and he's spent twice the amount of time in the 'real world'.
I have been punch pressed and followed the path I've been guided in, and this always seemed the correct system to follow for me. But upon knowing Isaac it's flipped my world upon itself, knowing that his path is the opposite to almost everyone I've known before. But here's the rub.
Isaac is where I am, but he's got more knowledge than me and he's achieve more than me. His path wasn't direct, or even the suggested path but the snakes and ladder style path he's taken has only aided him and this is something I'd never encountered before.

This is more me writing about perspective, as I always assumed I was taking the most correct route. In reality, the route you take matters not. It matters where you've been and where you are going, and it's quite likely the difference in these paths is what makes this world turn.
Thank you for letting me know you Isaac, I know this seems like you are my test subject, but I just think it's brilliant how different we were but now how similar we are. Our value is subject to whom values us, perhaps David Cameron would value you less but in the grand scheme of things, but I am jealous of your true value.

1 comments:

Boots said...

Incorrect. It's the soul that matters. People feel that. We know, we feel, we touch, we love. Embrace you're opportunities and work your ass off. But people know people.

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