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Flashlight Enthusiast
They aren\'t just lights!
I occasionally hear the refrain "They're just flashlights people!" followed by sound psychological advice to get more sleep and/or calm down or "get a grip" and so on. Sometimes this is because someone has truly lost perspective on things and is being uncivil and overly demanding. Other times this is said to try to make everyone understand that these pieces of aluminum and glass and tungsten and silicon and lexan are just that: material, matter, stuff. Not really important.
In the first case, where someone is being rude, I don't believe it has anything at all to do with flashlights, but rather with the persons attitude. Trying to get the person to understand that flashlights are unimportant is putting the cart before the horse. I think the proper thing to say would be "This is a human being you're abusing! He (or she) is MORE important than your flashlight."
In the second case--which is what I am posting about--I think that this little mantra is completely off base. What, if anything, is "ONLY" such and such? Would you tell someone who was searching around on the ground for his or her wedding ring "It's only a ring, dude. It's just a band of metal"? I hope not.
Certainly, to some people, a flashlight is only just a flashlight, and that's OK.
But to others, a flashlight is so much more than "just" a flashlight. It is a holy item; a symbol; a talisman. It is a security blanket and a comfort and a discrete bit of joy. It is a palladium against unknown enemies, and a shining beacon for scattered friends.
Somtimes when I'm a bit down, I turn on one of my lights and shine it into the palm of my hand, and that happy brightness and intense light pouring out of the lens makes me feel just a bit richer and a lot better.
For the true flashaholic, a flashlight is a mystical thing, something more than the material out of which it was fashioned. And in the CPF modding world, I believe it also represents friendship and community and excellence and goodwill. When you hold a custom piece in your hand, made by a friend on CPF, you hold a solidified piece of a community. It's a spiritual thing. The significance of a flashlight is not limited to a small realm only; it ranges far and wide. Flashlights bring people together like almost nothing else, despite the isolating and alienating influences at work in the world.
A flashlight is so much more than just a flashlight here on CPF. And thank God for that!
I occasionally hear the refrain "They're just flashlights people!" followed by sound psychological advice to get more sleep and/or calm down or "get a grip" and so on. Sometimes this is because someone has truly lost perspective on things and is being uncivil and overly demanding. Other times this is said to try to make everyone understand that these pieces of aluminum and glass and tungsten and silicon and lexan are just that: material, matter, stuff. Not really important.
In the first case, where someone is being rude, I don't believe it has anything at all to do with flashlights, but rather with the persons attitude. Trying to get the person to understand that flashlights are unimportant is putting the cart before the horse. I think the proper thing to say would be "This is a human being you're abusing! He (or she) is MORE important than your flashlight."
In the second case--which is what I am posting about--I think that this little mantra is completely off base. What, if anything, is "ONLY" such and such? Would you tell someone who was searching around on the ground for his or her wedding ring "It's only a ring, dude. It's just a band of metal"? I hope not.
Certainly, to some people, a flashlight is only just a flashlight, and that's OK.
But to others, a flashlight is so much more than "just" a flashlight. It is a holy item; a symbol; a talisman. It is a security blanket and a comfort and a discrete bit of joy. It is a palladium against unknown enemies, and a shining beacon for scattered friends.
Somtimes when I'm a bit down, I turn on one of my lights and shine it into the palm of my hand, and that happy brightness and intense light pouring out of the lens makes me feel just a bit richer and a lot better.
For the true flashaholic, a flashlight is a mystical thing, something more than the material out of which it was fashioned. And in the CPF modding world, I believe it also represents friendship and community and excellence and goodwill. When you hold a custom piece in your hand, made by a friend on CPF, you hold a solidified piece of a community. It's a spiritual thing. The significance of a flashlight is not limited to a small realm only; it ranges far and wide. Flashlights bring people together like almost nothing else, despite the isolating and alienating influences at work in the world.
A flashlight is so much more than just a flashlight here on CPF. And thank God for that!