Time to be Ok
Hi friends,
"Dude, Are You OK?"
An hour south of me in Middlebury, Vermont is a crafty brewery, Drop-In Brewing company, that makes a fabulous double IPA with this name. It's a ridiculous name for one of the finest beverages concocted in our tiny state of excellence. And that's saying a lot considering the superlatives: Focal Banger, Lush, Plush, Shush, Sip of Sunshine, Tribute, Madonna and the legendary Heady Topper. But already we are off topic, sort of.
About 15 years ago, I was working on my art, grinding a panel outside in the afternoon wearing my usual isolation gear of safety glasses, a full face respirator and heavy-duty Bose, noise canceling headphones with music blaring. I was listening to a Steve Kimock live concert and utterly focussed on the work. A tree could have fallen in the parking lot and I'm not sure I would have noticed. Someone said right next to me, "Bruce, are you ok?" I whirled around. There was no one there. WTF?! A full five seconds elapsed before I realized that it was on the cd. Rewind. Yep. In the crowd, between songs, caught on the mic, my name and a check-in from above. Am I OK?
There's a blockbuster movie out right now wherein our hero asks this same question probably 30 times. Not addressing me but the damsel in distress, his pals, even the assassin sent to do him in. I'm a movie fiend and if listening closely, one can find the resonant frequencies in our culture in the movie scripts. The repetition throughout breaks the fourth wall at some point and actually is asking us. "Are you OK?" And I think, "A OK, boss. I'm totally A OK," at the moment. Thanks for asking.
These ubiquitous, internationally understood two short syllables come from where exactly? Okay, let's dig in. It's a corral somewhere out West, everyone knows; but according to the interwebs, it is generally accepted as the most commonly spoken word on planet earth. Its meaning is multifaceted. Acceptance, a judgment -- "That will do." Agreement -- "OK, let's go." An acknowledgement -- " OK, I heard you." Acceptability leaning toward mediocrity -- "These fries are just OK." As a verb -- "The flooring choice was OKed." As a noun, "So we have an OK to use that flooring." Adverb -- "She dances OK". The dog that I live with understands this command completely. Then again, he's a border collie with a vocabulary bigger than mine. Pretty sure. The cat, um, no.
That's what it means and how it means. Where it comes from is a total hash depending on what you read. Generally, the tales relate to Boston slang from the 1830s and 40s when the public and journalists started abbreviating everything and often intentionally incorrectly. (People are weird. IMHO). "All Correct" or "Oll Korrect" or "Ole Kurreck". Subsequently, it was borrowed as shorthand for a political campaign for "Old Kinderhook," Martin Van Buren. AND, it is possibly Bantu in origin from West Africa or from the Choctaw indigenous peoples in the Southwest and, my leaning, Scots used to say "och aye" meaning "oh yes". There's even a Greek explanation, "ola kala" meaning "all good". Conclusion, it's part of our lizard brain and should be attributed to Grokk and Dorg's request to take out the carrion bones...
In today's chaos of a world of politics and war, atrocities and pronouncements of doom, let's have a Thanksgiving and holiday season where you look another in the eye and ask, slowly, "Are you OK?" Then wait patiently. Maybe ask again later as human emotions tend to ebb and flow. And shoot no higher for "Great" or "Awesome". Just be ok together. Those that aren't, show them the love they need. In this last year, we have all suffered loss. And had excellent times. As a practice, it's the reaching out that is critical. Once I came to this little splinter of consciousness, I found that question all around me. Look for it. You will see what I mean. And what I really mean is, make this question a practice. It shows you care in four syllables.
"I'm OK. Good to go". Let's go together. Hug everyone you can along the way.
Oh yeah, and buy art. It makes a present that lasts longer than we do. And it is different every time you look at it. And the same. Like the best people I know.
Peace out,
B mac
P.S. The big piece of art shown below is "Gloria Mundi", Latin for "glory of the world". I made it as a reminder.
P.P.S. Being a lover of the biggest numbers, I wanted to share that I recently read that it takes 100,000 years for light to cross our galaxy. Very far and very fast. Ok by me, think I will walk the dog. Maybe have a beer.
P.P.S.S. It also works very nicely as a statement -- "You are okay." Try that too.
