Super Heroes- At lunch today a conversation was started about pull-ups. The general consensus seemed to be that people generally have trouble with pull-ups. People used to be able to do them really well as kids, but now have great difficulty with them. Sure, atheletes probably have a much easier time of it, but the average person finds a pull-up to be somewhat of a challenge. For some reason, my mind strayed to movies about super heros and kung fu movies and even some generic movies where there's nothing extraordinary about the hero at all. Well, the characters there pull off a pull-up in the blink of an eye, without so much as breaking a sweat. They do lots of things that require a hell of a lot more strength than a pull-up. I mean, wow, if the fate of the world REALLY rested on the shoulders of an average person, we'd all probably die. There are countless movies where the hero is dangling off a cliff, or just over any generic abyss, OR has to save someone from said abyss. I suppose you can grant them the added push of adrenaline, but if someone has difficulty doing a pull-up, how do they save themselves from falling off a cliff? Even helping someone else who is about to fall is a great physical strain.
It really makes me want to get into better shape. You know, just incase the world is ever resting on my shoulders.
Marijuana Debate- This was also discussed at the lunch table. Yay for Philosophy for Luch! Anyway, through people's various ideas, I came to the conclusion that I should oh-so-subtlely manuipulate the anti-legalization side into winning. What I mean is that I'll present the arguments with holes while being sure to leave said holes GAPING open, and ready for the other side to attack. Of course I can't be obvious about it, which is where my manipulation skills are rather weak (just call me Mr. Anti-Subtle), but I don't think anyone on the other side is even intelligent enough to think of the same strategy. Ok, maybe one or two of them are, but I would be surprised if they were smart enough to pull it off subtlely (that is, are smarter than I am- I'm such an ass). Besides, there really aren't nearly as many holes in the anti-legalization stance. We shall see what happens . . .
Movies and the Nature of Love- I watched Garden State yesterday, and while I thought it was a really good movie and had a lot of important things to say and make audiences think about, I was extremely bothered by the ending. The movie seems to make a point throughout the entire story that one should be unique and live their own life and not give in to the expectations of others. The ending, however, presents a very different philosophy: you find the meaning in your life in another person.
At my appointment yesterday, Sharon talked about how my periods of intense longing for a boyfriend always occur during the times I am most affected by depression; when I'm most insecure and in need of support. And, yeah, that's true. I feel like if I had a boyfriend, I would have a great deal of support during my more difficult periods. It feels as if everything would be ok and bearable if I just had someone there with me to share the burden, I guess. That's not an entirely healthy way to look at it, though. You can't just toss half your burden on someone else. Its not fair to them. If you can't learn to handle your life on your own, if you feel like you need another person in order to feel complete, then you have problems that need to be worked out before you can even begin to have any sort of meaningful, long-lasting relationship.
Not being able to handle things on your own makes look (for lack of a better term) weak. Would you want to date someone that can't keep their own shit together? No, you want to date someone that isn't going to toss a whole new mess of problems onto your own. Needing another person to feel whole very strongly implies that you are not a whole person yourself. Would you want to date a whole person, or a half a person?
Everywhere I look, I see movies and stories and even other people who are finding their meaning in life in their romantic relationship. Hell, in so many movies it makes me sick, romance is thrown in there, seemingly to say, "If there's no romance, then its not really a happy ending." Or that you need a romantic relationship to be happy. And I've been watching these and believing they were right, when they totally miss the point.
And just recently my one-act play from last semester, Soap Opera, popped into my head. I finally got the point of the story. Just today, months after it was performed. In it, Lucy and Johnny are two troubled young adults who hook up and have an incredibly intimate relationship. Sharon, echoing Johnny describes at one point Johnny's quest to "find himself" in another person. That's exactly what Johnny and Lucy were doing; they were looking for meaning in eachother. Lucy, on one hand, found her personal meaning and strength. Once she did, she no longer needed Johnny and started cheating on him. Eventually she came to see him as a burden, and dumped him. Johnny, on the other hand, put so much of his own meaning into his relationship with Lucy that he lost any view of himself as an independent person. So when Lucy dumped him and their relationship ended, Johnny was essentially destroyed. Sharon, who began to seek a relationship with Johnny, and adopt his view of finding meaning in "another person's eyes", mey a tragic end along with Johnny at the end of the play. Thus, in this play, each character was looking to fill some hole in themselves with a romantic relationship. When Lucy was able to fill her "hole", she no longer needed the relationship. It's purpose was already carried out, and it was over. For Johnny and Sharon, to whom the relationship itself filled their "holes", they perished along with the relationship.
So now I'm looking at romantic relationships from another perspective. As I understand them now, any sort of relationship I have at the moment will be hollow and meaningless. When I finally get all my shit straightened out, I'll finally be ready to enter a serious relationship with another person.
Eric 3/09/2005 03:10:00 PM
