Back in the sad old days when I was ignorant enough to tolerate boy-bands and their sentimental rubbish, I had heard a song by Ronan Keating which went "Life is a roller coaster, so just start a-riding..." What nonsense! I so wish that life were like a roller coaster but it is so not.
As the coaster rolls up to the point of no return, the mind goes "Shit! Shit! Shit! Crap! Crap! Crap!" in an infectious rhythm and when the cars cascade down the precipice there is a primeval "Yaaahhh" sound that arises instinctively out of the rows of open mouths. The twists and the turns and the upside down, cork screwy motions of the ride are welcome because there is no other option but to submit to them. If there is one place where a man is completely helpless against the powers of fate, it is on a roller-coaster. Absolving it's riders of all responsibility and ferrying adrenalin-charged participants to a scream-fest, the coaster is a creation for everyone to literally ride their luck. They know that the feeling of danger is real but the danger is probably not. It's like watching dinosaurs on a giant movie screen instead of being pursued by them down the street.
Life on the other hand is full of observations, schedules and picking between myriad choices each of which have completely different consequences. If only it were as simple as strapping onto a mass of carriages designed to subject the body to G-forces that it wasn't designed to handle nor wanted to, and then wear a silly smile all the way through the self-imposed, self-indulgent freak ride from start to finish.
1 comment:
Yeah wish life was as simple as riding a roller-coaster.
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