A ROUND PEG IN A SQUARE WORLD
When I was 15, and seemingly leaving school, the nice careers lady came in with her briefcase brimming full of jobs and opportunities. I had to be dragged into the headmaster's office when the call came to see her. I had no idea what I wanted to do and hadn't put any thought or work into it, despite two years of careers lessons. It was time off from maths and geography etc. as far as I was concerned. The nice lady went through everything she had in her bag. Nothing appealed. I raised objection after objection to every job she suggested. 'Do you want to work?' she asked, in despairing, disbelieving tones. 'Yes,' I replied, without elaborating any further. We carried on. I didn't tell her that I really wanted to be a footballer. Nothing appealed, I pointed out all the flaws in everything she offered. I think she found my reasoning cogent in the end. She even took her head out of her hands and stopped crying at one point. Then she turned and smiled at me at the end, saying: "you're a round peg in a square world." And with that, she packed her bag up and sent me on my way.
As people who know me will wearily confirm, I've told this story over and again over the years. I liked the phrase and have repeated it often over the years. It obviously made sense to her and it made perfect sense to me. And now I read that Tolkien has been described in the same way:
"he was the true radical - theround peg in the square hole of modernity." (Jonathan Witt and Jay W. Richards, The Hobbit Party.)
It's no wonder I have such an affinity with a writer who was so out-of-kilter with the mad mechanarchy of the age, and so attuned to the right and natural way. I'm of the Hobbit Party.
"A round peg in a square world." I shall have that as the title of my autobiography.
I even told the story to the diagnostician when I was assessed for ASC. The nice lady writing the report changed it to "square peg in a round hole," clearly thinking I had misremembered a familiar phrase. AS persons are the archetypal square pegs, so it fitted her report, but it wasn't what I told her. I had misremembered nothing. I remembered the phrase correctly - "you're a round peg in a square world." I liked it.
And now I see Tolkien described in the same way!
You see, it does make sense! I'm a true radical.
