The world is your city.

This essay is by a good friend of mine.

The Life of a Content Third Runger
By, Brian Kimble

So where does this phrase "third runger" come from?
The “rungs of a person” is a system of classification of people developed by Brian Kimble in his paper "Ontogeny Recapitulates Etymology". The three most basic programs for a human is first, second, or third rung, each with its own sets of more detailed classifications included. The author, Brian Kimble, is himself a proclaimed third runger. This short essay will touch briefly on the syntax clarifications of what it means to be a third runger.

Running through the now re-leafed wilderness that is my backyard, I found myself thinking of a W.B. Yeats poem, entitled "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death". This poem, first pointed out to me by my high school English teacher, Peter Hufnagel, encompasses a greatly phrased ideal of Romanticism often referenced by great modern writers such as Tom Stoppard or Paul A. Cantor. The line I specifically refer to is "A lonely impulse of delight" (Yeats 11), a short delicate line that speaks to me to describe the yearnings of a generation of thinkers. Running through the rain screaming at the top of my lungs would be what I consider to be one of my many personal impulses of delight, and I thought that these poets were geniuses. I would hate for the necessities of a normal person's life to NOT include a few lonely impulses of delight, for how else would they enjoy living it? This track of thought lead me to where it generally does, a sort of subdued feeling filled with wishes for living in a time of Romance. The Romantics were so sure in their course of passion, so full of purpose and expression. I wish I could have a niche as certain as theirs. And that's when it hit me: niche.

When people ask me what exactly I mean by a third runger, people who haven't taken the time to read my paper on it, I don't right well know how to state it in short sentences. Today, however I believe I have struck on some very crucial knowledge that may help even myself figure out what I'm talking about. Being a third runger is a mixed blessing; it's like multitasking. Third rungers have the capacity and the potential to do anything, but don't have drive or management skills; or even real certainty on their own desires. In other words: third rungers don't have their own niche in the world. Third rungers are not as a whole great people, because great people are often second rungers, who are themselves simply extraordinary first rungers. The great thing about being a first or second runger is you are almost always born with a niche, a niche to who you are. A niche that generally doesn't need great insight or delving to figure out (this is a little different for second rungers). A third runger lacks this niche foundation, which is why most of them are unstable, depressive, insane, or combination of the three (I like to ere on the side of instability for myself, but who knows?).

Now third rungers are built to be good at thriving in both of the places humans generally thrive in: the world, and the mind. However, since they lack a niche in the world, most of their time is spent in their own heads, or minds. Introvert is not the right word to use on this sort of predetermined state, though. It is not so much of a closed in box state, as an inward-looking METHOD for living externally; sort of an Introverted-Extrovert mentality. This is one of the reason such third rungers are generally depressive or insane in outward appearance. When third rungers find their own happiness in the outside world, though, they can be some of the happiest and most interesting people. This unfortunately doesn’t come easy, and there are examples of this around me every day.

One of my favorite people is a third runger, like myself. This person asked me recently why they didn’t like to do anything like normal people, and why they couldn’t be happy going out to shows or just hanging out like normal people do. I realized that this insecurity with their social standing, or I guess more of their identity standing, comes from their being a third runger, and not having a spot that fits them perfectly. I on the other hand, while I may pine for a different era, do not have problems with this, and I think I may have figured out the reason why. Where my third runger-ness keeps me as more of an Introverted-Extrovert, it does not make me feel afraid or non fitting in the world. Not having a niche of my own doesn’t make me feel excluded, it makes me feel free. When you have no glued down spot in the world, the world becomes your playground. I think that third rungers of all types should remember this, because if you forget that being a third runger gives you this freedom, your life will just be a compendium of torment, and obscurity. I would like to give this advice to my friend. Because it rings ever so true. When I am at home thinking my things I think, it is a whole different mental state. But when I venture forth to the outside world, I feel at home in the limelight of other people’s niches.

So my advice to all of the non-content third rungers out there is: don’t try to find your niche in life. Let life be your niche. The world can be a fantastic place if you let yourself just float along it like electrons along a current. Identity is overrated. Uniqueness is overrated. Be anything and everything, and enjoy life in the entirety of it that comes your way. I leave this with a paraphrased quote from Alexander the Great, during a dialogue with him and his philosophical tutor Aristotle:

Aristotle: To live fully in life you must find your city and stay there.
Alexander: No. The World is my city.

The world is your city. Remember that.