The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
In the summertime, Venice Beach in Los Angeles is a veritable freak show — and I mean that in a good way. Vendors and vagabonds, healers and stoners, skaters and surfers, fortune tellers and body builders, tourists and street performers, all randomly milling about on the Boardwalk. Everyone is so different that almost nothing seems unusual…except one fellow who happened to catch my eye on one sizzling Sunday morning.
He looked to be in his mid-twenties, slightly overweight, and somehow just didn’t seem to “fit in” — even in this eclectic mix. He was sporting a pair of very dark shades, about a dozen heavy gold chains around his neck, an entirely black urban wardrobe — including his oversized leather jacket and floppy beret — and not one but two Rottweilers, both dragging him down the Boardwalk on a leash, nearly pulling his arm out of the socket.
And he was trying to act like he didn’t care. About anything. His dogs. How he looked. What people thought of him. Trying so hard…too hard.
What was he trying to cover up? Maybe his biggest fear was not standing out. Or of being average. Or of looking weak and vulnerable. But whatever it was, he was doing an awful lot of work to make it look like none of it mattered to him — which it clearly did. It was like he was communicating both “I don’t give a shit if you look at me” while at the same time “For God’s sake, please notice me.” You just don’t do that much work if it doesn’t matter. It makes me suspicious when people “try too hard”:
Vehemently insisting how easy-going they are.
Angrily declaring not to be angry.
Loudly boasting of being non-judgmental.
Fiercely objecting to being called narcissistic.
Aggressively swearing that they can be trusted.
Excessively broadcasting proclamations of love.
Wearing over-the-top clothing, makeup, and jewelry.
Or fervently denying unacceptable thoughts or desires — in other words, to “…protest too much.”
It’s all so much work. To cover what? To compensate for what? I’m not always sure. But it’s definitely something…