Living Literally
I really like this ad by Mercedes Benz. It’s about a man called Raymond who has wanted to taste ice cream all his life, but suffers from the most serious case of gratification-delay-osis. So he just keeps wondering and waiting. It’s quite a clever analogy.
Just last night, I was also watching Ugly Betty (Yes, I learn a lot of Life’s important lessons by watching TV, apparently). And so Betty finally gives in and decides to have an affair with Henry, the accountant guy whom she has been eye-effin’ all season. Henry made a girl pregnant and in a few months’ time, he will have to leave and go home to be a dad to his kid. Which leaves them with the question… what do they do till then? Avoid each other? Throw all caution to the wind and have a good time? Yes. The stark choices we have to make sometimes. So anyways, Betty says no, they have to stay apart, then hey, maybe they could be friends, and then finally, let’s date but do it secretly. In any case, they really do try to do justice to the complex emotions involved, even though I’m not necessarily doing that with my writing.
So long story short. She gets busted, but decides, what the hell, let’s live in the moment and enjoy it while it lasts. And that’s when I yell at the TV, “NO, Betty! Nooooooo!!!!”
But then again, this is the kind of person I am. I saw a bunch of coins strewn about on the road ($1.75 to be exact) near my house the other day and I didn’t immediately pick it up. In fact, I continued to walk past it for one whole week. Each time as I approached the spot, I would wonder if it was still there. And strangely enough, there it would be. For one whole week. Then I started thinking, “Who could have left it there? Why hasn’t anyone picked it up? Is there a camera crew hiding behind a bush somewhere? Are people in my neighbourhood too rich? Or do people simply walk around with their blinders on? etc etc….” Until one day, I said, hell, I’m going to pick it up. And I tried. And I could not. Because those damn coins were stuck to the road with super glue.
So what’s the moral of the story? Don’t live life in the abstract. Live literally. Breathe. Feel. Hurt. Cry. Then start all over again. Because really, we are more resilient than we think.
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