Eddie Whitlock's Blog: Reader and Writer - Posts Tagged "changing"
Godzilla Rising
Godzilla is my metaphor for an apparent life-changing event. I used to imagine seeing Godzilla rising up on the horizon, like he did in the great Japanese sci-fi movies. Why? For me it was this: "Look! Godzilla! No school tomorrow!"
Beyond there being no school tomorrow, life would change. The daily monotony of the cycle of birth-school-work-death would be interrupted by something different.
Different.
There are no Godzilla moments in most people's lives. My father's death was the biggest life-changing event for me so far. I was with him when he died and it haunts me that I let him die (I told a nurse, who assured me that he was fine, but I knew better and didn't push her to do anything). I spent the next few weeks sad and sometimes crying at my desk and telling sad stories to people who did not want to hear them. But.
Routine returned and life went on and I hate myself a little for letting it, like normalcy now should be impossible and that to strive for it is an insult to the Old Man.
No, his passing was not the Godzilla Moment.
I don't think I'm the only one who longs quietly for something that will upset the routine. We comfortable Americans know we are "blessed" and ought to be grateful. But. We long for an upset to the routine.
I'd say this is an unmentioned motivation for fictional characters, too: this desire to break routine. It is not a quest for "freedom." In some cases, it's the opposite. It's a quest for a life without the need to plan, to execute, to evaluate, to control.
I think it may be the secret motivation that makes smart people do dumb things. South Carolina's former governor went to South America to be with his mistress while telling staff that he was "hiking the Appalachian Trail," a euphemism if I ever heard one. Mark Sanford just had his dumb thing in a very public way that most of us miss.
Of course, he is running for office again. It's proof that if there is a Godzilla Moment, it's not something we ourselves can create, though we may try to do so.
Beyond there being no school tomorrow, life would change. The daily monotony of the cycle of birth-school-work-death would be interrupted by something different.
Different.
There are no Godzilla moments in most people's lives. My father's death was the biggest life-changing event for me so far. I was with him when he died and it haunts me that I let him die (I told a nurse, who assured me that he was fine, but I knew better and didn't push her to do anything). I spent the next few weeks sad and sometimes crying at my desk and telling sad stories to people who did not want to hear them. But.
Routine returned and life went on and I hate myself a little for letting it, like normalcy now should be impossible and that to strive for it is an insult to the Old Man.
No, his passing was not the Godzilla Moment.
I don't think I'm the only one who longs quietly for something that will upset the routine. We comfortable Americans know we are "blessed" and ought to be grateful. But. We long for an upset to the routine.
I'd say this is an unmentioned motivation for fictional characters, too: this desire to break routine. It is not a quest for "freedom." In some cases, it's the opposite. It's a quest for a life without the need to plan, to execute, to evaluate, to control.
I think it may be the secret motivation that makes smart people do dumb things. South Carolina's former governor went to South America to be with his mistress while telling staff that he was "hiking the Appalachian Trail," a euphemism if I ever heard one. Mark Sanford just had his dumb thing in a very public way that most of us miss.
Of course, he is running for office again. It's proof that if there is a Godzilla Moment, it's not something we ourselves can create, though we may try to do so.
Reader and Writer
I began to write because it seemed to be a realm in which one could exercise omnipotence. It's not.
My characters demand to make their own decisions and often the outcomes are wildly different from wha ...more
My characters demand to make their own decisions and often the outcomes are wildly different from wha ...more
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