I dare you...........

Express a new idea, write something deliciously unique, create a piece of art never seen before, dance like no one else......arms flinging and body gyrating while spinning and spinning, formulate a thesis that daringly asks a question many believe can't be answered, challenge the status quo, stretch out the boundaries of acceptability and you've entered into the realm of the scandalous.

Step out of the norm into the wilderness of the unknown, question society's common beliefs, march into a place of worship wearing a gypsy costume..........DANCE down the aisle and sit right up at the front with the family who has ALWAYS sat in that particular pew for generations. Sing the hymn from your heart boldly, shake everyone's hands and tell them they are all BEAUTIFUL. Wish them a glorious day...... Scandalous stuff!! Why? Because this behaviour is chaotically unpredictable, unexpected and it makes discomfort wake up.

JUMP out of your routine. Wear red. Did you know that research has shown that men are more attracted to a woman who wears red? It's true! I know that when I wear my shiny red rainboots with my powersuit, businessmen in their powersuits stop, stare and smile............AT MY FEET! So, what do i do? I make them TAP, TAP...... while I exclaim...."I DO have cute feet, don't I??? These boots make them smile!" After that, I often hear them mumble something that sounds like.........."she's bonkers........yeah, scandalous really......."

I love being scandalous......not really rudely or terribly disruptive, just a bit eccentrically. I love throwing a little extra spice into the savoury stew of life........love shaking things up, just a bit.....saying something a tad outrageous in the middle of a counselling session when the timing is right or when i'm teaching a class. It perks up the interaction, spreads some humour, takes someone out of their head when they need to get out of there for a breather. CRAZY? Why the hell not?

I have been known to make a very good analogy between what it feels like to wear a bra for the first time and learning how to apply a counselling technique to a mixed group I was teaching at the University. After a while, you don't feel the bra anymore.....after a while, counselling becomes second nature. See?

The women all nodded in complete understanding.......the men?? Some of them nodded, which of course made me wonder if they were secretly wearing a push up under their hoodies........no, I didn't ask...........just thought my own scandalous thoughts....... BUT, most of the guys in the class looked shocked and a bit dumbfounded.....possibly wondering who the hell it was that would hire a kook like me to teach crisis counselling....?? Then, I changed the analogy from a bra to a athletic protective cup and jock strap.......and they began to nod. Hmmmm.....now I'm wondering if they were wondering how i knew how uncomfortable a piece of rounded plastic protecting one's jewels feels like....??hmmmmm.......

Remember that scandalous craze called streaking in the 70's? Men and women impulsively stripped down to their bare essentials and dashed through crowded rooms, jumping and bouncing and flailing their netherbits like rogues gone wild. Hilariously daringly scandalous at the time, and people loved it. Well, probably not the anal retentive Bible thumper types who succumb to the vapors when the very idea of swaying ones hips is suggested. The whole wide world is scandalous in their eyes.........I mean if Tele-tubbie Tinky Winky, you know the one with the purse, can cause such a hocus-pocus ruckus because of the PURSE, well pale nakedness flying through a cafeteria would send them into a hyperventilating tailspin!

There is a juicy streaking story in my family, which at the time was really considered crossing the line of decorum. My father in law, known to all who loved him as Buzzie, was once in the Ontario cabinet in the high profile position of Solicitor General. Though he was known to be a bit of a rabel rouser and he always enjoyed a good joke, this time he was only in the dark on this one until the incident played out. Then, he heard about it. Turns out, he passed on the "government" Leafs tickets for a particular game to his adoring daughter, who in turn passed the ice level tickets onto a friend. The friend who had many outstanding debts and no money to pay them off decided he would set up the ulitmate bet..........he bet all the folks he owed money to that he could somehow manage to get onto the ice at Maple Leaf Gardens and run naked across the blue lines. SURE!

So, on the night of the game, buddy fella donned a one piece mechanics work coverall and headed off to the game.....at some point during a lull in the action, he unzipped, stripped and JUMPED over the boards an onto the ice..............slipping and sliding and hoping not to get too close to an errant skate blade........pumping his fists in the air! BETS all paid off!! oooooweeee! Of course, the sleepy sports writers (this was in the dark blue period of the Leafs history where they couldn't score if their lives depended on it, so there was very little to write about) scribbled the story and scrambled to find out just who owned the season's tickets! Oooops! The Government of Ontario.....thank you very much. Poor Buzzie was left with some 'splaining to do.

I'm sure it was really really embarrassing and very scandalous at the time. I wasn't part of the family then, so I don't know the intensity of the rage right after the incident. But, what I do know is that it has become one of the most cherished and funny stories to come out of the Buzzie's political years.

Funny, the more I think about the whole idea of this type of scandalous activity.....where no one is hurt......where morality is tickled, not stomped on, the more I feel that we don't pinpoint what is really wickedly wrong. A determined life inside a bubble and not breathing anything but stale air filled with old ideas is where i think the scandal lies..... yes, what is scandalous is living a life where discomfort is dismissed.

The prompt this week for Sunday Scribblings is scandalous.........the word just hisses off the tongue doesn't it? For more interpretations, check out their blog......right Here.