"Even if I got rid of all my problems, I'd just go out and get new ones..."

Join Me! No, not me... him. Danny.
12:35 p.m. on 2003-11-10

I thought about writing an entry about Remembrance Sunday. After all, it's a huge event, and it needs to be commemorated, to be remembered, so it never happens again.

Although it hasn't worked so far.

Then I thought not. For a start, I'm not sure what to write, and also, my friend Claire has summed up my feelings far better than I ever could. Go to her diary if you want to see a very eloquent speech.

But I'm not about to leave the topic of old men entirely. No, because on an entirely different note, please go to:

Join Me

I bought a book last week, called "Join Me", by a man named Danny Wallace. Danny is the ex-flatmate of a man named Dave Gorman, and together they searched the world for other Dave Gormans. The resulting book was very funny, so I guessed this one would be too. And it is.

This is the story of a 'collective' started by Danny as, well, a distraction from boredom. It now has over 1000 members and its only commandment, aside from the passport photograph that must accompany all applications, is that you must make someone happy every Friday.

Old men, specifically, although I think he's branched out into other people now.

The wonderful thing is, people are following through. They are offering to buy an old man his coffee, or sending him peanuts through the post because they've heard he likes them. They are taking the time to talk to homeless people, or they're carrying furniture for strangers. They are the Kharma Army.

It would be easy to dismiss them as nuts. It isn't exactly 'normal,' to suddenly want to make a complete strange happy, through some small act.

But as Danny himself points out, perhaps if people did, then the world would be closer to the idyllic haven it was supposed to once be.

And what does this have to do with Remembrance Day? Well, not much, I have to be honest. I would have probably written this entry regardless of the timing.

Once a year we buy a poppy, respect two minutes of silence, and spend several more minutes remembering the dead and the living, and the sacrifices they made for us. And then we go with our lives.

It isn't going to change the world. Neither, probably, is the Karma Army. But they can change one life, even for a second. Making someone else smile for no benefit to oneself. That's pretty amazing in itself.

Listening to: my CD player skip because its broken.

Quote: "If you've got Mystique as your girlfriend imgaine the fun you could have in bed - I've just imagined X-Men 3 might open with me in bed with Patrick Stewart." - Ian McKellen

<< >>