The Life and Times of S

Fairy Tales

As I sit at my desk and stare at the screen, I wonder who came up with the concept of Happily Ever After. Was it the person who came up with the first fairy tale? Most people's understanding of the concept : Finding "the one", getting married and having children and being smiling and merry for the rest of your lives. No frowns. No fights. Ever again. No metaphoric rain. Only sunshine. As long as they both shall live.

But isn't the concept just that? A fairy tale? Doesn't it seem? I mean, when we look around today. All we see is war and pain. Hunger and strife and blood. Fighting in the name of peace. Killing in the name of holiness. Nothing seems to be going or ending happily. Even in the movies. ET leaves. Jennifer dies. Knicks lose.

Makes you wonder really. If its actually going to end Badly Ever After......

But then you look around and a little more carefully, you see not all is bad. You see the good things. The happy things. Like the policeman stopping his car and turning his lights on, to help a mother duck and the six ducklings following her cross the road safely. Or the man giving up his seat on the crowded bus for a pregnant woman. Or the crooked Happy Birthday cake your four year old made for you. Or the making up with "I'm sorry"(s) and "I love you"(s) in bed after a fight. Or the silver lining of a safe family behind the tornado that ripped through your home. And your heart.

Like Richard Bach said, what if the world and life with all its complications and its little disappointments and its little pleasantries was meant to be the way it is? Sometimes good. Other times bad. What if THAT is truly the concept of Happily Ever After? All things bright and beautiful unless comes a setback. All things dull and lifeless unless comes an apology and a smile. And then its back to all things bright and beautiful. Night after day. And then day, once again, after a long night.

Isn't it the sadness or the disappointment that makes us appreciate the happiness and the perfections more? Isn't it the rain that makes sunshine so much more life giving? Isn't black what makes white appear whiter?

Isn't it perfect?
Just the way it is.

posted by S @ 6:53 PM