Esmeralda_Bramble

Like a Moth to a Flame
2020-01-13 17:32:50 (UTC)

The road to greatness....

...is never easy. According to my historical k-dramas and some memes, life is not one problem after another but multiple problems happening at the same time until you die.

Growing up, we (mostly girls, I guess) have been conditioned that you encounter one great struggle in life, then someone saves you from it, and you live happily ever after. As we got older, we got exposed to soap opera or telenovelas.... where some protagonist has an ok life at the beginning but something bad goes wrong and life gets worse and worst until they work so hard, become rich, and exact their revenge, then they live happily ever after.

Now, I watch these historical dramas of highly notable historical figures (but whose backgrounds are unknown) so they crafted stories on how that person achieved greatness. Like in other shows, they use similar formula where there's this villain (or a series of villains with one major boss villain) who devoted their whole life making the protagonist's life miserable. The protagonist is faced with this obstacle and eventually overcomes it. Then they celebrate a little bit, enjoy life a little until a new problem arise. This time, it's bigger and meaner. The stakes are higher. But what must they do? Sometimes they pout, sometimes they drink, but by the end of the day, they have no choice but to face their problems. There are times they fail and almost to the brink of death but somehow they survive the ordeal to live another day. They level up, they mature (usually in the form of beards growing), they have been changed (for the better) by their experiences. They are no longer the reckless youth of their past. They may experience a bit of "normalcy" for a time but not long after more problems arise (they are leveled up as well). This goes on until they get old or until they die, which ever comes first. I feel this is a more accurate portrayal of life. I know, a lot has been exaggerated but from meeting people sometimes these kind of drama actually happen in real life. Just saying.

What I like about these protagonists are they are not portrayed as perfect. They have flaws as well. Well some are portrayed almost perfectly but if you examine the details more, no, they are not perfect people. The antagonists, they're not plain evil themselves. They're just humans. They're driven by their fears, insecurities, envy, etc. Characteristics and behaviors that make us human. Actually, both protagonist and antagonist have mirror lives. They experience successes and failures, albeit in opposite manner.

What is my point of writing this post? Ah, greatness. Life is full of misery and problems but what sets apart the great ones versus the not so great ones is how they respond to life. Yes, we can express our anger, we express our pain, we cry about the injustices--- all of these are expected and I think must be done. However, once we've done that do we stay there or do we push on and continue with life? What does continuing with life means? I think it's doing what we are supposed to do inspite of. Show up for life. Go out there, hurt, get hurt, learn, level up, rinse and repeat. I don't know, that's just my guess.

But not everyone is destined to be great. Agreed. But I think we all have a role in this life. We may be the great protagonist in the story or we may just be his sidekick or support system. We may be the worst antagonist in someone's life or perhaps just a minion. Either way, we all suffer, we all experience pain, we all have victories and failures, we have joys and sadness, but we must go out there and life. I know it's hard. I'm saying this to myself because I'm not showing up for life. I'm avoiding it, yet again.

Yeah, I don't know why I wrote this post. I guess I just have no one to talk to about these silly thoughts. Life, so misunderstood. Ah...




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