Stealth and Challenging Assumptions

There are those who strive for recognition of their talents and skills - for their gifts to be known, acknowledged and admired. 

And there are others who know the advantage of being underestimated - of being sleeping giants. 

I have been, and continue to be depending on the day, from both camps. But the latter is my favorite. Existing below the radar, functioning in the realm of stealth and subtlety; in the great mystery. It feels as if it is both a skill and a discipline. 

Being able to do that well in a given situation makes me feel extremely smug. And it entertains me to watch the realization happen in people. To see the moment of knowing that they’ve been got; and not got by me, but got by themselves.

See, I love challenging judgements and assumptions. A lot. Maybe too much. 

And I’ve experienced it a lot. 

Not just in simply being a girl, but in actually being of small stature. That has been a good cover for me. 

Examples. In high school for our Physical Education class we did a physical activity challenge. One of the challenges was to see how many sit ups we could do in 60 seconds. I beat everyone one in the class in that category. Even the most athletic boys. Those same boys then tried to write the story that I was simply doing it wrong and so could do more, but I had too many witnesses vouching for me that I was doing it right. It was the perfect ending to a perfect movie.

When I worked on the ranch we were putting up a log home in Bowden, Alberta and we were staying on site. Mike and Dale were visiting with the customers while I took my turn showering the day’s sawdust and sweat off of me. Through the door I could hear the lady say; “She’s such a pretty little thing.” And I heard Dale’s reply; “She might be little, but she’s built like a brick s**thouse.”

That one made me smile hard.

Stealth, subtlety, being relentlessly unassuming and effortlessly challenging judgements and assumptions; it sounds delightfully like the world of ninjas and monks.