sVnarHAC6C8.srt

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Rule number 11,
do not bother children when they are 

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skateboarding.
That's a very specific one.

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Yeah,
it is.

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Well,
that's a,

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that's an essay about masculinity 
mostly.

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You know,
I used to watch kids skateboard on St 

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George Street,
which is kind of cool because obviously 

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St George is the dragon slayer.
That's the street I work on,

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which I think is quite funny.
And anyways,

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these kids used to,
you know,

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they're teenagers,
young teenagers.

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We had these long bar hand railings 
going down some shallow stairs,

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but a fairly good flight to them and 
they would board slide down these 

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rentals.
It's crazy.

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It's,
it's concrete that's pebbled.

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It's like you don't want to land on.

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You probably heard a lot of bones 
crunching over the years watching them.

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It's like,

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you know,
but they didn't have much protective 

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gear on and you know,
and eventually the university put up 

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things to stop them from doing this,
which I complained about in this chapter

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for a bunch of reasons.
But like I liked watching those kids.

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I like watching skateboarders do those 
crazy things because they're trying to 

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become competent.
Like in there they're facing danger.

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They don't want the damn protective 
gear,

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like sometimes it's just stupidity.
It's like where a damn helmet,

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you know,
but sometimes it's not.

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It's like,
no,

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I don't want to wear a helmet.
I want to expose myself to this danger.

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It's not that I'm stupid.
Maybe it is,

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you know,
I'm just being careless,

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but maybe it's not.
It's like,

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no,
I'm facing the danger.

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I'm trying to master it.
And if you watch kids board slide down 

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like handrails.
If you don't think that that's 

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courageous than your.
And maybe stupid.

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Those two things aren't so easy to 
distinguish,

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but it's brave and when they do it,
it's like amazing.

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It's,
it's impossible to do that.

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You jump in the air,
you grab your skateboard,

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you balance on this stupid rail,
you slide for 20 feet and the,

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you know,
the price for failure as well.

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You do the splits on the rail.
That's not fun.

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You know,
or you landed

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the first one that can change your 
masculinity.

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Masculinity like that.

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Yeah.
And so like,

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and the kids are often shooed away.
It's like,

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wait a sec there.
They're practicing being courageous.

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They're practicing mastering something 
in the face of danger,

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you know,
and a lot of the rebellious behavior of 

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young men in particular,
which is very frowned upon in the 

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schools.
It's like that's toxic masculinity.

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You know,
that horrid,

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horrid phrase.
It's like,

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leave those damn kids alone.
Let them like.

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Another thing I referred to in that 
chapter is about 10 years ago in 

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Toronto,
they changed the insurance rules 

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governing the playgrounds and parents 
had raised money for these damn 

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playground,
so there's nothing wrong with them.

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They took them all out the whole city,
like two weeks before school started.

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There was nothing but dirt and gravel.

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What happens to her and rubber enough or
they weren't bouncy enough,

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they were too unsafe.
Who knows?

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Who knows?
Swap.

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There was nothing wrong with them.
Well then the kids were.

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I saw the kids on top of the school 
because they needed some danger.

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We know that kids on playground 
equipment,

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they will push to the limit of their 
ability.

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That's what you see what you like.
When you go see a sport like gymnastics,

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know what you think.
Go see a gymnast and like the gymnast 

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does a flawless routine and like 
everybody claps like Matt and you know,

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the judges say nine point nine and it's,
it's,

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and then the next person comes up and 
they're screwed.

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It's like nine point nine was basically 
perfect.

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How can you do better than perfect?
And then they do it and,

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and,
and you can do better than perfect 

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because.
So the person is like,

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they're on the edge and they go out 
there and you know,

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you watch them,
you feel it in your body because you're 

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mimicking them physiologically.

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You see that everything they do is that 
much farther out into chaos than 

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anything they've ever done.
Right?

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They're pushing themselves to the 
absolute limit of their ability.

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And everyone's like this because you 
tell with every gesture that they're 

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that close to making a mistake.
And so they've taken this courageous 

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step beyond their competence and put 
everything on the line and that 

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celebrate in that.
And then when they land,

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they land in a way that's unlike 
perfect.

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It's perfect.
Plus.

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And everybody immediately leapt to their
feet and like they get a chill right and

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it's the same chill.
Your hair stands on end.

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It's the same cil that a mouse has when 
it looks at a wolf the most puffs up.

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It's all.
And so what you've just seen is all 

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inspiring because you've seen someone 
courageously move past perfection into 

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the unknown and,
and not only knowable themselves more,

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but to ennoble humanity itself.
And our partner your feet.

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It's like,
yes.

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And then it's tens,
right?

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It's tens,
they win the gold and it's like,

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well everyone knows what that's like.
It's like a great musical performance 

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and that's,
that's been in that place where 

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everything lines up better than perfect.