He must have been around 6 years old, a shy and diffident boy trying to cope with being thrust into an alien environment. It was a christmas party for children where he was desperately trying to fit in, and not having any friends to play with, was consigned to the sidelines watching the merriment unfold. His retiring nature constrained him from breaking free from the shackles that held him back from new friends and experiences.

The new game was to run around the hall to try and find a special spot previously chosen by the organisers. He watched as the other children ran all over, forwards and backwards, up and down the hall with uninhibited glee. He found it childish and refused to partake in the general melee that was ensuing. Then the gears in his head started turning - where could this elusive spot be? Something clicked and he realised that at a christmas party, the most special place in the hall had to be near the christmas tree, all decked up. Slowly he started walking towards the spot he felt was the chosen one - still not running out of sheer contempt for the other kids. He might not have known what the word meant, but apparently knew how it felt. As he was nearing his destination, the bell went off signaling the end of the game. A little boy, seperated from his mother was wailing under the christmas tree, oblivious to the game going on around him, and surprise surprise - he was deemed to be in the chosen spot. Still crying, he was dragged onto the stage and given a bunch of presents - Merry Christmas!!

Smug at the validation of his logic, our young six year old took his first step towards developing a sub-concious attitude of intellectual superiority - after all, he had deduced correctly where the mystery spot would be, and that was enough. Unfortunately, any lessons that should have been learnt from this were conviniently overlooked. Life goes on all around us every second of every minute of every day. Either you participate in it, or it passes you by. To know something is of little value unless you can use that information, act upon it and derive value from it, otherwise, all knowledge is an unending excercise in futility, to be filed away, taking up space in your mental hard drive. Granted, there is plenty of free space available, but that is missing the point, as our young six year old failed to appreciate. Life is action - inertia just sucks out the potential life force in us, rendering us passive spectators while the game of life goes on before our eyes. Inaction denies us the chance to tap into our unmeasurable potential, denies us the chance to live as opposed to merely exist.

This attitude of inherent inertia would continue to haunt him for many more years, but how could he have realised it back then. After all, he was just a kid. Over the years he would meet many people who would try to shake him out of this lethargy, but when it is inscribed on your psyche, it takes some doing to cast it out of your system and banish it forever. It would be an uphill struggle, but atleast it would be a step forward, another small step in his search for Avalone.