Consistency

OK, so I guess I should have seen it coming.

Hot on the heels of a blog about my treacherous right shoe (pun definitely intended), not only did I not have a single problem with loose laces as I marched to work this morning but, as if insulted that I had given it such poor coverage in my script, instead my left shoe decided that it would take up the baton and struggle to keep it together for more than a few hundred yards at a time. In an alarming act of transferred consistency between shoes (a neglected area of research, I feel), it was now my right that strode secure, safe in the knowledge that it had been tied beyond all doubt, fastened into place with the precision looping of a consummate professional. One day, I told myself, one day there will be unity between shoes. We will all march together, each as tight as the other, and not even a pouncing pebble will spoil the almost spiritual beauty of the moment…

No…no, I don’t know what I’m talking about either. I’m with you on that one. But what I am interested in this evening is consistency. And I have a simple question for us to ponder as we wonder why we’ve just allowed ourselves to read another paragraph about shoes: is consistency really the golden ratio – to borrow a Maths metaphor to spice things up – we should be measuring our lives by? In football, referees are praised for their consistency, even if they’re consistently poor in their decision-making, whilst errors made in work find themselves downgraded in severity because ‘at least they’re consistent’.

I’m not so sure I’d like consistency in everything. Do I really want to correct the same spelling error 12 times in the same essay, or would I rather see 12 valiant, albeit wrong, attempts at stumbling across the correct version? There’s something quite gloriously post-modern about it, I feel. No mistake is more wrong than any other but all mistakes are equally valid. In fact, perhaps mistakes should even be celebrated as ‘diversity’, stepping out of the mould and demonstrating a freedom of spirit that we should cherish not crush?

No…no, I still don’t know what I’m talking about either. Perhaps I should go back to writing about shoes. Solid, consistent shoes.

On a rather more ‘popular culture’ note, the new album from Bruce Springsteen is definitely worth checking out. Preferably while writing a blog. And trying to follow the Chelsea match in your left eye while your right eye follows your fingers skipping across the keyboard typing these words…

This blog has been sponsored by Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball.