Once my mother-in-law asked my wife if there was ever a point to my stories.
Maybe there isn't. But I was wondering the same thing about this: Why are certain things so important to us when they don't mean anything in the long run? I like certain sports teams (I wouldn't say I'm a big fan because I don't follow any team well enough to consider myself one), and going to games is fun, and (if it's the right sport) watching games is fun (more fun when watching with a friend), but I won't cry if my favorite team loses. I was disappointed when Northwestern lost in the Rose Bowl, but, quite honestly, I was more disappointed that my brother's $50 got stolen from the cottage (and just as disappointed when one of the guys laid it upon himself to buy overpriced groceries on everyone's behalf and then demanded "our share" from us). I read Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but on another level, I didn't understand. My friend Derek is a complete Manchester United fan, and I just don't understand.
Why is high school basketball (or football, if your town actually has a team) so popular? Part of it, of course, is the comradere of watching the game, and it gives people something to talk about so they don't have to reveal any part of themselves in conversation, but there are, simply put, some people who are insane nuts about high school sports. Some of them, like Uncle Rico, are holding on to 1982, when they were (or were almost) a star.
One of the soccer boys asked me today, "Are you, like, a really awesome soccer player?"
I responded, "No, I suck." (sorry for the language, to those of you with sensitive ears (eyes). I promise I will wash my hands out with soap for typing "suck" in such a manner).
He continued, "No, I mean, were you good in high school?"
I had to agree that I was. He asked how I compared to a player on the team, and I would say that he has been coached better, but that I was stronger, faster, more aggressive, and that we would probably have been best friends had we been in high school together.
But I don't hold on to that success like many people I've seen. Those weren't my glory years. What's the draw of holding onto so-called "glory years" anyway?
I guess I want to live more in the today instead of yesterday.
Oh, yeah. A story doesn't have to have a point. Sometimes that's the point.
2 comments:
Yeah, a story from the ancient past doesn't have to have a point. And just because I was wronged in that story doesn't mean the hurt is still there or that I'm still mad about it. I mean, in the long run, does it really matter that I missed being salutatorian by .023? Or that "someone" read my diary?
No. But it makes a good story (even if it doesn't have a point.)
Stories don't have points... there are no "i's" in story. So you should tell more stories which do have "i's" and therefore have points.
Yeah Lets live for today, yesterday is gone and we have no guarantee of tomorrow.
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