Joseph Gergen Works

In the Spotlight. Fame. The center of attention. Many people crave this. Society certainly loves to put people there. Often rewarded with fortune.

In the shadows. Wallflower. Out of sight, out of mind. Many people crave this as well. To be left alone by society. Society is intrigued by those who choose to live in the shadows. It’s often mysterious. Sometimes sinister.

In the spot light. In the shadows. Extremes. We are so often drawn to extremes. Art is filled with it. Politics is filled with it. It’s dramatic. And the world is certainly filled with people in the spotlight who don’t wish to be and those in the shadows who crave the light. Those are even more dramatic.

The extremes are safe as well. Surrounded by the like-minded where the brightness blinds us to our subtle differences or the darkness obscures them. We have the comfort of brotherhood.

What about those of us who don’t want extremes? What about those of us who don’t want the glaring spotlight and yet don’t want to live in dark obscurity? That awful middle ground where are complexity is appreciated not hidden.

We want to see the complexity that we are without having to know who we are. Who we are is not important. We want recognition not celebrity. We crave the lost art of subtlety.

We choose to walk out of the shadow but not into the spotlight. We confuse people when we do this. They want a confrontation between the dark and the light. Gandalf vs. the Balrog.

But we don’t want a confrontation. We want you to know we were there and then be gone. Perhaps it is subterfuge we crave. To upset the apple cart and disappear. To show you things you haven’t seen.

Maybe there is no real middle ground. No safe haven between the extremes. We can only streak across the valley and people will notice our comet like passage but we must end up on one side or the other.

Perhaps it is subversion we crave. To streak back and forth and create confusion and questioning among those stuck in the dark or the light. We wish to be both the siren call and the proof that you can survive the journey.

Can you here us calling?