A child's logic

When I was in grade four — in 1979 — Supertramp released "The Logical Song" as a single, and it captivated even an ear as young as mine. In particular, I was fascinated by the structuring of these lines:

Now watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical,

Liberal, fanatical, criminal.

Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're

Acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable!

A radical, a liberal? Whoa. Though I couldn't have used the idea of linkage as a ten-year-old, I certainly perceived it.

If you know even the littlest thing about me today, you'll know that "they" are calling "me" exactly these things for my politics and beliefs. And what's wonderful about my brand of resilience is that I don't care. Or to adopt masculine diction: Bring it.

Not sure why I'd attribute so much influence to a pop song (OK, OK, a prog-rock song), but it has stuck with me. This morning, as I sang along with Roger Hodgson, I was reminded of all the little details that make a (more or less) whole person.