I Was In the Room Where It Happened

GOATs and Greatness

Last night, I was 30 yards away from a GOAT.

I had the privilege of attending a Dave Chappelle show.

I never expected to see him without a tv screen and time between us.  But there I was, packed into an auditorium with 3,400 lightly-perspiring, excited people.  It was hot, and loud, and incredible.

Dave Chappelle is an absolute master of his craft.

Stand-up comedy, at its essence, is the act of telling funny stories.  Lots of people can do that.

But.  Dave Chappelle can tell stories that are raucous and obscene, poignant and thought-provoking.  Last night, he ran the spectrum of unapologetically rude to graciously generous.  His bits were designed both to challenge and coalesce his audience. Through it all, his stories were uproariously entertaining.

The way he weaves together words creates an amazing and flawless tapestry.  No frayed edges.  No dropped stitches.

He is a GOAT.

(In case you think I’m literally calling him a small farm animal that sometimes produces high-end expensive yarn, I mean, “Greatest Of All Time.”)

And he knows he’s a GOAT, but that’s ok.

Don’t we all want to be the greatest at something?  Or at least the greatest we are capable of achieving?

That tendency is simply part of the human experience.  To strive to run faster, to create more sophisticated art, to advance in a career.… The desire to be great takes many forms.

While I doubt anyone will ever call me the Greatest of Anything (other than during my family members’ occasional pep talks!), I join the ranks of humanity who march ever onward, trying to learn something new, do something difficult, or improve something in my life that is improvable.

Why don’t we all just knit single-color, single-skein, garter stitch scarves for the rest of our lives?  While there’s nothing wrong with picking and sticking to a simple groove, I would suppose many of us want to become more skilled in knitting.  We desire the challenge of learning how to knit increasingly difficult stitches, how to read a pattern, how to read a chart… how to create ever more refined works of art.

Maybe you and I will never be called The GOAT (at least not in a flattering way), but it doesn’t mean we can’t be great in our own right.

So keep pushing forward in whatever area you love, quenching that thirst to be better.  Simply pursuing greatness with consistency makes you a GOAT in my book.

If you are searching for new knitting inspiration, my patterns run the gamut of easy to innovative, and I have a new pattern coming out next week!!

Slàinte mhath and happy knitting.