Sk8 Shorty's
12-11-2006, 03:01 AM
Oblivious to it or not, if you live in any sort of urban area, you're constantly bombarded by stimuli. Unfortunately, not all of it is good.
Whether we skate down the street, walk, take the bus, train or drive to a spot, we're repeatedly slugged in the face with the imagery persuading us to eat better, eat worse, buy a car, save the environment, buy a cell phone, donate money to brain cancer research, support the troops, and say no to war, etc etc etc.....
If you survive this gauntlet with your sanity intact, you arrive at the spot, only to deal with crackheads, security, police, the local hero, the show-up kids, chitchat kids and/or skate stoppers. Our bought, sold and rented environment is ramming itself down our throats, clawing at our throats, clawing at our eyes and corroding our mental clarity.
But Alas, we have the physical act of skateboarding, our breath of fresh air in a world of audio and visual pollution. The mental attention required to skate forces us to ignore these outside forces lunging to penetrate our craniums.
Unlike Yoga or Tai Chi, which focus on fixed movements and patterned breathing in stagnant surroundings, skateboarders attain mental clarityby focusing on performing abnormal tasks on a skateboard, in often unpredictable, dynamic environments. It takes total concentration to eliminate the distractions of the restless urban sprawl that comprises our concrete playgrounds.
Rolling around today, it became clear to me that, amidst the barrage of marketing mantras, it was just me, my skate and the obstacle in front of me.
Skateboarding is a detachment from one's self. Lifes problems, whatever they may be, can weigh heavy on a young soldier. But when working a line at the ledge spot, your not thinking about anything but banging it out just right.
So forget about the new car, bills, popularity, billboards, online dating, and that new phone that plays the latest games while it scrambles your eggs and downloads the latest 50 cent ring tone. Forget about all the tweakers and horrible drivers lurking around the corner every time you leave the house. Put the problems down for a few hours, go skate, and achieve mental clarity in the midst of madness.
words by Frank Daniello of skateboarder magazine.
I read this today from an old article of skateboarder magazine, I've never read it before, but today I decided to, I read it, and thought it was inspiring i guess you could say, and very true.
I enjoyed reading it, and I thought maybe you guys would also.
Whether we skate down the street, walk, take the bus, train or drive to a spot, we're repeatedly slugged in the face with the imagery persuading us to eat better, eat worse, buy a car, save the environment, buy a cell phone, donate money to brain cancer research, support the troops, and say no to war, etc etc etc.....
If you survive this gauntlet with your sanity intact, you arrive at the spot, only to deal with crackheads, security, police, the local hero, the show-up kids, chitchat kids and/or skate stoppers. Our bought, sold and rented environment is ramming itself down our throats, clawing at our throats, clawing at our eyes and corroding our mental clarity.
But Alas, we have the physical act of skateboarding, our breath of fresh air in a world of audio and visual pollution. The mental attention required to skate forces us to ignore these outside forces lunging to penetrate our craniums.
Unlike Yoga or Tai Chi, which focus on fixed movements and patterned breathing in stagnant surroundings, skateboarders attain mental clarityby focusing on performing abnormal tasks on a skateboard, in often unpredictable, dynamic environments. It takes total concentration to eliminate the distractions of the restless urban sprawl that comprises our concrete playgrounds.
Rolling around today, it became clear to me that, amidst the barrage of marketing mantras, it was just me, my skate and the obstacle in front of me.
Skateboarding is a detachment from one's self. Lifes problems, whatever they may be, can weigh heavy on a young soldier. But when working a line at the ledge spot, your not thinking about anything but banging it out just right.
So forget about the new car, bills, popularity, billboards, online dating, and that new phone that plays the latest games while it scrambles your eggs and downloads the latest 50 cent ring tone. Forget about all the tweakers and horrible drivers lurking around the corner every time you leave the house. Put the problems down for a few hours, go skate, and achieve mental clarity in the midst of madness.
words by Frank Daniello of skateboarder magazine.
I read this today from an old article of skateboarder magazine, I've never read it before, but today I decided to, I read it, and thought it was inspiring i guess you could say, and very true.
I enjoyed reading it, and I thought maybe you guys would also.