The old adage got it backward. It's really "The things in life that are free are the best." Not that these free things are necessarily the best things, but the fact that they are free makes them the best.
Someone I know won a contest and the prize was free Netflix for life. Almost everyone I know seems to have a connection somewhere for free theatre tickets. Someone else I know knows a lot of bartenders and gets a lot of free drinks when he goes out.
I don't get much for free in this life and sometimes I feel envious of these people and others. And that is wrong.
Sometimes I feel like everyone else got an instruction book with their life and just knows what to do and how to do it.
Anyone remember The Greatest American Hero? The premise of the show is that Ralph, our hero, has lost the instruction manual to the Superman-like suit he was given by the denizens of a UFO. So, whenever a crisis calls, Ralph has to make do the best he can and try to figure things out on his own, with the help of Connie Sellecca and Robert Culp. One of the series' favorite sight gags was William Katt as Ralph flailing through the air as he tried to fly in the suit without really knowing how. And he would inevitably crash down to the ground in someplace inconvenient.
I feel like that sometimes. Does everyone know how life works except for me? Am I in my own verison of The Truman Show? Or did I just somehow misplace my instruction book.
Posted by Jere at February 22, 2004 12:13 AM | TrackBack