colonel christie...

I find it interesting to wonder what formative experiences shaped my character.

To try and figure out what people or situations in my childhood impacted on me so powerfully - good or bad - that they drive my behavior today.

One such experience I seem to be thinking about a lot recently.

It was a warm summers day. I was 11 or 12. I was on a tennis court, being shown how to play the game by an old military type - colonel christie. I didn't like colonel christie. He was prescriptive - a hard ass. He had issues....

We were doing some training routine or another - and were given an instruction - which didn't seem to make sense.

For some reason instead of accepting it I questioned it, I suggested it sounded unfair.

Colonel Christie's reply was delivered in an irritated tone "because life is unfair" - and instead of acquiescence I remember a voice within me thinking "that's f**king stupid - why, if something is self evidently broken, or unfair, would you sit back and accept it?"

That moment, that single, innocuous exchange on a tennis court in the mid 80s has probably defined my life more than any other. Rightly or wrongly every time I'm presented with a status quo, an existing system or a received wisdom I can't help but challenge it, pull it apart - it is hard coded within me.

Years later I read an article by Noam Chomsky - the quote I remember most vividly (here)

"I never was aware of any other option but to question everything”.