Monday 23 June 2008

a parable of frustration and boredom

if you have ever missed 2 flights in 2 days, traveled to a city for no reason, spent the night in that city for no reason, missed an entire (but very needed) weekend for no reason, and missed the work you were supposed to do for the next 10 days for no reason, you can appreciate how i feel right now.

i get stressed out when i travel anyway (makes me think i might need to get a new travel-free or travel-less job). i never sleep well before i go, stay up late worrying about packing, wake up too early worried about packing and getting to the airport. having to do that 3 days in a row really worked a number on me.

in a fit of frustration i wrote the following parable...the idea of the parable came from my buddy t-rex.

you might have to be mormon to get these silly allusions. but i understand that evangelicals are sharing the same stories...so let me know if you get it:

i was walking down a beach and enjoying the feeling of the sand between my toes. i turned around and noticed all this crazy stuff, first there was just one set of footprints, and then mysteriously there were two and then there was just one again. i was like WTF, why all this crazy footprint stuff. all the sudden the sand was not so comfortable. i noticed that i was stepping on millions of starfish. i got really bugged because starfish are not fun to walk on, so i started chucking them back into the sea. a dude came up and started taunting me about how it won't really matter, there are so many starfish you can't save them all (i was confused because i was just trying to clean-up the beach) i turned and said "i never said it would be easy, i just wanted a clean beach." then the dude, dressed in trucker clothes and hat, with a bottle of beer in hand suggest that i need to pray and ask God to grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

he was driving me crazy, so i decided to change the subject and asked him how long he had been driving trucks? he told me he had been driving so long that he can drive his car right up to the edge of cliffs, with half of his 2 wheels off the edge. i told him that sounded crazy and tried to tell him to be careful. he got really weird, and in a moment of frustration, i decided just to throw him into the ocean. he was über heavy, and started screaming: "you knew what i was when you picked me up" i collapsed under his weight and we started laughing. he told me that if i gave him a hug and a kiss and all the money i had he would get me a bike, so we left and i got a super cute red bike.

1 comment:

eileen said...

i love this story. i just revisited it again so that i could read it to corey.