“Bad things happen to good people” – that was a major theme in the book I just heard, Monday Mornings, by Sanjay Gupta. And boy, did bad things ever happen his characters. There was a point I knew something was going to happen to this one woman – and I expected it would be awful. It did; and it was. The abundance of bad things that happened in this audible reminded me of a woman I met in book club – an aspiring writer. She said she was having a block because she didn’t want “bad things” to happen to her people. Apparently the workshop she was attending implied this storyline tactic was obligatory.
An extreme version of this tactic was NOT applied to a movie I saw recently, Boyhood. It was a good movie; novel concept. It was a long movie – I kept waiting for something really bad to happen (how indoctrinated to formula am I?). Stuff happened (eh), but nothing extraordinarily bad. Life happened. The movie got 4-1/2, almost 5 stars – and I could relate. Yes, it was a good movie. Still, my main take-away was how fricking looong it was. My life – or the lives of my friends would be equally as interesting. His life wasn’t astonishing, unusual or strange … It was just life.
Bad things happen to good people. That’s life. I have my own personal legacy of bad stuff; occasionally handled with grace. I’ve been known to say that my life twisted me; permanently. These twists and turns that are me are not bad or ugly – they can be quite beautiful; when I embrace the contortions. I know my buttons and what pushes them – and when I use my logical brain instead of my lizard brain (as Seth Godin calls it), I can stop my desire to run like hell; OR punch you out. Sometimes.
Bad things happen to good people. Is that what makes us grow? Does the Universe have a message we need to get? Imagine a life with no struggle, no pain (heavenly!). When I look back though, I know that the painful junk is what sent me to the next dimension. Sucks, but there it is. I found the key is in how pain is faced, acknowledged, accepted and dealt with. I can choose to learn and grow, or I can just be pissed off and wrecked.
This week as I was living my life, guess what queued-up on my iPod! – “Alive and Kicking” by Simple Minds
Who will save me? Me! – I will save me! As long as I am alive and I am kicking!
By emimusic: