life is a circus...

for some, this statement falls nothing short of reality.

the Ringling brother's Barnum and bailey circus recently visited san diego and having never attended or really witness any sort of live circus before i took advantage of the situation and the fact that my best friend's friend is the currently ringmaster of the entire show.

needless to say i was simultaneously fascinated, impressed, and very disturbed.
never before have i seen such an incredible display of human strength, both mind and body. gymnasts, magicians, acrobats, lion tamers, elephant riders, behind the scenes prop pushers, and ragamuffin assortment of clowns and goofballs- all these and more come together and use their incredible physical skills and creative expression to put on a stunning performance; two hours of organized chaos.

there were dogs doing back flips and belly dances, chasing owners and others in some sort of focused, synchronized, holy mess, and soon after came horses, elephants, and tigers acting the part they have tediously been trained and disciplined to act in a means to entertain and impress the masses with pizazz, creativity, and brute strength.
there were men and women executing mind boggling stunts- trapeze bars, cannonball projections, anti-gravity fliers, silk acrobatics and more...

my eyes were moving more quickly than my mind could comprehend the neural input, and as i watched, spellbound by this critical mass of people, animals, colors, sounds, i couldn't help but wonder what the real picture resembles, both off and on the stage.
the circus is more than a show..is it a real life, real career, 24 hours a day operation. children are born into the circus as their families have inherited the skills and royalty positions for generations. the entire staff, compromised of over 300 humans, let alone the dozens of live and exotic creatures who play a main role, work, sleep, eat, play, travel, rest, exist together in the one of the most tight knit, bizarre and completely intriguing communities i have ever heard of. the circus is their life, their closest and most pure reality. for those of us who linger for the two hour show and catch glimpses of the grandeur of performance life, we perhaps have little recognition of our part in the whole picture.

perhaps for some of the circus members, this lifestyle is a way out. for some its the only way. for others its the best dream they could ever imagine. humans will do anything in their reality to escape said and did reality. they will sacrifice time, money, morals, and labor to escape that itself. and us 'great' ones, who build this sort of escape in a natural response to our existence, profit from their stupidity and live the best reality. we are all- musicians, artists, seekers, growers, gypsies, go-getters, writers, students-circus freaks.