You know after a few years had passed from my college years, I had given thought to writing a book about the trials and tribulations that we face once entering the real world. I was naive in so many ways back then, because what did I know about trials and tribulations. I was going to write the book in first person narrative and include interviews of people with whom I went to school.
I even had a title --see subject line. It seemed like the summertime was the best time bar none. We learned from an early age that it was a time of no more pencils, no more books....well, you know the rest. When summer ended then it was back to the grind. However, we knew there would be an other summer next year, so we plodded foward with great expectations for next year. Unfortunately, there was for most of us a final summer. There would be no more periods of Calvinesque joy (fyi here I mean Calvin and Hobbes not the other guy). Is life really nasty, brutish, and short?
The focus was going to lie with where did we go wrong. Yes, the eternal pessimist. Now don't get me wrong, this was not going to be the great American novel everyone talks about; in fact, I wasn't even thinking an award winning novel. Maybe one of those that GQ recommends, which noone reads anyway, but looks good on a cocktail table or is passed around in some coffee shop where all the wanna-bes would extol its virtues as a modern day resurgence of existential thought and a marvelous attempt at revising...blah, blah, blah...Or worse, something Oprah would recommend.
Several things held me back from actually attempting such a herculean feat...I had little talent, less patience, and now that I look back, no experience in life. How can you write about life experiences when you don't have any? It is like those 16 year old child singers, who belt out soulful songs of love lost. You're friggin' 16! What love did you lose? I hate what music has become...but I digress.
Anyway, I have been feeling alot like the book I wanted to write lately. In addition to the trials and tribulations part, I wanted to include a look at where we went wrong. Do we grow up wanting to be unhappy? No. Yes, life happens, I firmly believe there is no such thing as good or bad luck. It is either an act of nature or human intervention that causes such phenominom. So, barring acts of nature, how do we end up unhappy? What are the choices we make that cause us to wander done such paths? Where did we learn to make decisions? No, really! It sounds stupid, but is it societal or familial? Does culture play such a significant role in our lives that it forces us to make decisions?
So, as we reach a critical age in our lives are we happy? If not, how did we get there? When did the summer end?
Ecco Homo
