It is funny to me how people always talk about their "heyday". If you think about it, the people who have decided to stop living in their heyday always refer back to it. "Well, back in my day..." Like when if you (hypothetically) were popular and played football in high school but kind of dropped out and became a deadbeat in college then you will talk about the moments where you made big plays on the field or how all the girls loved you and you were in shape, and cute, and smart, and active, and CLEAN *cough*. You may also notice people who were big losers in high school but totally blossomed in college will hardly ever mention high school. Usually just all the crazy times they had in college. All the drinking, drugs, sex, parties, forgotten nights (I guess we all remember that from college haha) and sex :P We all do it. We've all done it before. But why is it always past tense? Today is your heyday. Live it up.
Something I've noticed people like to talk about as well is their relational lives (family, friends, lovers). This is particularly important to some people if there has been a disaster (death, disease, weird estrangement). Because that is what is important in our society today right? What we have been through? People brag about their accomplishments, sure, but what do they really brag about? Their struggles! Look at me, look what I have been through, survived. Triumphed over.
It's good to remember struggles and to learn from them and teach with them if you can, but should they be thrown out to impress?
Why do we do this? Why is it that when I say, "Oh... my... god... that meeting was so boring." (simple, common statement) I have to fear a response of, "Omg! I KNOW! I had to sit through this meeting once that was like ten hours and all he talked about was how bad his toupee looked and how his wife doesn't like him, omg you have no idea I thought I was going to die of boredom, and then I got this itch right in my crotch and I couldn't do anything about it because I was in a meeting and I thought I was going to go absolutely mad like you have no idea and then the woman next to me started having a baby and I had to deliver it because I am the only one who (can save the world -_- doubt it) manage something like that and then instead of a baby it was a mutant and I had to cut its head off, but it kept regrowing so I had to gouge out its heart and force feed it to the mother in order to kill the thing. OMG it was the worst meeting ever! I am the greatest individual ever for surviving such a trifling time! You have no idea. You have no idea."
Yes congratulations. Your meeting was 10x more horrific than mine was. Is that what you want to hear?
Though of course we all know it is never actually that grand, but more like "Omg our meeting was boring too, and it was about two hours longer," (imagine that in an effeminate male voice, kinda wispy and southern sounding...and a bit of a drawl [I'm actually imagining the landlord off Seinfeld. Or this guy Bruce that I know]). Because it's truly become a game of subtlety. Most people, however, forget the subtlety. There is always a one-up in progress though. If I get a bee sting (non allergic), they get a broken arm. If I get dumped, they got cheated on. If my dog dies at the ripe old age of 13, theirs got hit by a car as a puppy. All of which somehow lead to the person somehow "nearly dying" or "being half-dead with sadness". Also there is this thing of listing sicknesses and allergies. I get it, you can barely eat anything. I'm going to need you to submit this list typed and single spaced, please.
NEWS FLASH EVERYONE:
No one likes to be one-upped. I hate it! I try not to do it. Mostly because I hate when I am having a down day, or week, or ten minutes and here comes someone who (if they really cared about me would tell me how they feel bad instead of saying that I could be worse off because look what happened to them) says something like that and while I understand that they are trying to, I guess, sympathize in some way and show me that I am not alone or something, but really it just makes my problem seem small and stupid. Bet I'm not the only one who has ever felt this way.
What is more sad than a world that is defined by its fuck ups? A world that is full of people who are living out of their "heyday". I know that I am young right now so technically I am still in my heyday, but I don't ever want to stop being in my heyday. Do we look back on these "heyday" moments and think "I used to really live it up"? Screw that! Every day I want to wake up and think to myself, "Man, I love my life. Right now." Isn't that the way to live? Anticipating the exciting future and not dwelling on the not-so-smooth past.
I guess I've digressed some, so maybe I should get off my soap box.
Maybe if you think about it one-upping is better than one-downing? Imagine: Person A- "I did not do well at all on that test." Person B- "Oh yea? Well I've got a hangnail."
Burn.
Superstitious by Stevie Wonder <3 <3 <3
Musing,
Mav
PS: I got my CPR and first aid cards in the mail today. I am officially a life saver.
Not the candy, mind you ;)
I also won first place in the competition for my poem Zombie. I should be getting an award in the mail. I'll put a picture up when it comes.
