February 11, 2013

• And, action!

  I feel like there are some things I should say in advance. I’m twenty-three now, and I feel like this is the appropriate time. Later on I will be older and it will feel ad hoc to say that I had already thought of all this. So here is the proof.

  Here are some things I don’t want to talk about when I’m older with my friends when we’re old and being old together.

  1) The kids grow up so fast.

  This moves a conversation forward about as much as when two people are on a walk and one says, ‘Hey look, a sidewalk’ and points to the ground. 

  2) My body doesn’t work like it used to.

  Ok, this is a true and sad part of growing older. But I read a book called Everyman, and I’ve wept all this in advance. How about we all just read that book, then we will go to the mirror when we are older and all weep for what we’ve lost, then drop to our knees and repent and thank God for the life he gave us.  Then we will at least be spared the grief of a wasted conversation.

  3) Wives, right?

  She doesn’t sleep with me enough, she thinks I play too many video games, she always thinks I’m insulting her . . . blah blah blah.  How about we don’t complain about our wives?  Isn’t this the person we vowed to love with everything we got?  Complaining, right?

  Each of these is a cultural script, a conversation we’ve seen somewhere and therefore repeat.  We follow cultural scripts all the time, with waiters, cashiers, police officers, professors, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc.  Following a cultural script means you are either out of creativity or are opting out of using your creativity.  Of course, sometimes you should opt out for the sake of time or some other circumstance.  But otherwise you should be following the call to add what only you can to the world, to make it a new place. 

  • 1:03 pm
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