The Reservist

'Reserve' can refer to a person's character or behaviour or, as in (having) 'reservations' to a hidden cognitive response. Either way, it's a fertile concept for thinking about how we deal with the world. A third and connecting valence associated with the term in everyday discourse is the notion of keeping something back in an energetic sense. A reserve in a sporting or organisational sense may be called upon, may be asked to step in but is not expected 'by default' to be engaged straight away.

Some of us retain cognate feelings of being a reserve, of having reservations, of keeping something in reserve or of in fact operating as a reserved actor for decades if not for all our lives. There is a significant responsibility attached to reserve under all these nuances - you may find that your status as reserve, or your reservations themselves for example, will suddenly be taken from you, or you may not ('reserve not used'; 'despite my reservations' ) - there is (moral) risk either way.