 | What are we really crying about? |
At some point during infancy, we all learned how to make a mess of our lives. Through an intricate series of learned behavior, we’ve crafted myriad ways how to take perfectly stable situations and turn them on their heads, seemingly for fun. Bred on steady diets of classic storytelling, cautionary fables and fantasy film, the average person has a propensity for acting out what we’ve been taught represents ‘adult life’. For some, these learned lessons come from religion, family or community. But for many, it is those very stories that we listened to, watched and absorbed that guide us on how to relate to one another.
In short, we’re a bunch of stinking drama queens.
While perusing music mogul, anti-hero Derek Sivers blog, we ran across an interesting post regarding dramatic events, the perception of one owns life, and how those two elements intersect. What Sivers argues, and subsequently Kurt Vonnegut (who’s own speech on the matter was inspiration for the post), is that humans will look to emulate the dramatic moments that have been presented to them as representations of “living”, and that the main source of these moments come from fictionalized stories that deal in a dramatic arch not unlike a “happily ever after” children’s film.
So, we put the question on you:
Are we the architects of our own emotional demise, stemming from a feeling of “situational inadequacy”? Do we subconsciously make things worse between the people we encounter in order to feel ‘alive’, to feel like we’re living?
The truth is, we want drama because it’s interesting, because it’s inflammatory and because it sure as hell beats waiting to clock-out at a job less than desired. For many, drama gives flavor to a flavorless life. Drama is fantasy. Drama is escape. Go figure . . .
How else does one explain the runaway success of Sex and the City?
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