Snarks and Ladders

I often have a daydream where I can blog.  I don’t mean ‘I write blog posts’, because I do that all the time anyway.  I mean, where I can really, truly blog.  Where I can actually articulate all these thoughts that run through my mind, that sound incredibly profound and meaningful and all that shit.  Because, instead, I get something that is similar to Fry’s ability to play the holophoner.

Sometimes, I get incredibly frustrated.  I hate lacking words.  Especially as an English major – if anyone is meant to be good at twisting words around and making them suit a purpose, that person is supposed to be me.  Instead, I can’t do more than paint horrible representations of what I am meant to be saying. 

However, it doesn’t stop me from appreciating things when I do come across them.  Things that are absolutely beautiful.  I guess this one needs a bit of a preface.

I have a friend who would have to be the most pessimistic person in the known universe.  To such a point that he doesn’t even dare take a risk because he’s afraid that it won’t turn out well.  Of course, this means we are perpetually at odds (what with me being a hopeful, optimistic soul), and he drives me batshit crazy more often than not.  However, if the world has shown me anything, it’s that it is very simple to be miserable.  No effort required, just sit around and mope about how much your life sucks.  Being happy, on the other hand?  That takes effort, and courage.  That takes the ability to be an adult, to look the world square in the face and say ‘This might not work out.  It might be very likely to fail.  But I am never going to know unless I give it a shot, and you know, I am going to grab at that chance for happiness with both hands and see where it takes me’. 

Anyway, I read a beautiful book today, and it made me think of him.  If I had my way, I would make every person I know read this book, so they could appreciate the message behind it.  The Simple Gift is a YA novel, so it’s not especially complex, and it is a fairly easy read.  The author makes use of free verse poetry to tell his story, so it walks that middle ground that appeals to most teenagers – the flow of poetry, but the ‘ease’ of prose.  It’s a simple tale, but the message behind it (one of hope, essentially) almost moved me to tears.  It’s about a sixteen year old boy, with a life that is horribly similar to the lives many of my students live.  He decides that he wants out, he wants to be somewhere else… which means running away from home with little more than the clothes on his back and becoming homeless.  At his most difficult times, he discovers human kindness.  As he scrambles to survive, he discovers love and companionship.  People take risks and do things that take a lot of courage, just for the sake of being happy.  It reminded me just how much potential there is in people, if only we could learn to act upon things instead of sitting on our hands and complaining.

I guess that, for me, this book just reinforced my life outlook.  More than anything, it makes me wish that people would realise that happiness rarely comes and finds us.  We have to go out and find it ourselves.

It also made me wish I didn’t totally suck ass at writing!