Fairy Tale Life

The controversy has long raged on whether television makes children more violent, encourages promiscuous behavior, and glamorizes poor choices. I like TV. It's a way to unwind, and watching it offers me a time when I don't have to think and can let something else be in control of the world for a while. I think my TV time is valuable and I think that all of the above arguments against TV have some merit to them. However there is another downfall that I have been thinking about lately that didn't even make the above list. It's the curse of the ending.

Books and movies inflict this twisted mental sentiment upon us also, but sometimes less so than TV shows. It is the idea that all problems can be solved and resolved. That you can deal with them once, and never again. The notion that a lifetime, or a quest, or the most important part of life is a story that can be told. At the end, the characters are left to rest, forever stationary in whatever state (usually happy, or at least content) they were left.

My musings on this subject are probably related to my time in life. I am establishing a career but after having spent three years "settling in" and "getting the hang of things", I realize that things are still not stagnant. We must keep moving forward.

In my opinion, this entirely stinks. In my early educational career, I was always persuaded to work hard so that I could get good grades, and someday get into a good college. When I got to college, I (very) quickly learned that this was certainly not the peaceful endpoint that I had been waiting for, and my next goal become establishing a career; getting into a graduate school. Then choosing a lab. Then finishing a paper. Passing the qualifying exam. Etc, etc.

The same winding journey mars my hopes of someday finding a decent enough male to enter into a blissful relationship with. Movies end with a wedding or a kiss. Books end with happily ever after. But how? Life goes on. Troubles get in your way. Even the happiest of couples have to face tensions, resolve issues. There is no such thing as an endless state of happiness.

On the one hand all this is very depressing. But on the other hand, it's a little inspiring. Although it is a lifetime of work, it is also a lifetime of learning and betterment (if we allow it to be). Theoretically, each new day is our highest point. We leave life at our pinnacle.

Sometimes thinking about all of the work I have to do makes me tired, and all I want to do is rest or worse, just give up and do something easy (whatever THAT would entail...). But when I look back and see how far I have come already, it kind of inspires me. It's like momentum. Since I've already made it this far without giving up, then it would be silly to do it now. I'll just stand up, and keep going. :)



You feel like a candle in a hurricane
Just like a picture with a broken frame
Alone and helpless
Like you've lost your fight
But you'll be alright, you'll be alright

[Chorus:]
Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break
Cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad you get strong
Wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand, Then you stand
Life's like a novel
With the end ripped out
The edge of a canyon
With only one way down
Take what you're given before its gone
Start holding on, keep holding on

Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend till you break
Cause it's all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe your hands, shake it off
Then you stand, then you stand

Everytime you get up
And get back in the race
One more small piece of you
Starts to fall into place
Oh