The reality is...
Every time I click on MSN gossip I get a sickly feeling in my stomach. I say to myself, don’t do it Mary, don’t click on another stupid story. And then I am double-clicking, quietly looking over my shoulder, secretly hoping that no one around me will see what is about to pop up on my screen. Whether I am appalled or thrilled, I somehow care about the different things that happen to the people that are oddly somehow in the background of my life.
I have dreams all the time about Amazing Race, about the crazy things that happen on that show. It was all downhill for me after that first Survivor and ever since then I watch makeovers, I watch competitions, I watch people living together, I watch weddings and first dates, autopsies and surgeries. I even watch people doing nothing. Top Chef. Miami Ink. Project Runway. The Bachelor. Even America’s Next Top Model. If there is a VH1 reality marathon, I will watch until I have seen every episode. Rooting for the winners and the losers, laughing and crying right along with these people I don’t even know.
I am left wondering how I would handle situations like the ones in front of me. Would I be as brave, as strong-willed, as fierce, as loving? Would I be as stupid, as ridiculous, as jealous?
Maybe it is actually kind of like a sport of sorts. I have my teams, and I have my loyalties and I am always just really rooting that lots of good things will happen and that everyone will just have a fair game and shake hands at the end.
And I ask myself all the time: Why do I care so much about these people, these stories that I am of no way a part of? Why am I so affected by all this? I can watch and read and reevaluate what I already know to be true about myself and the people in my life. I like to see what these people decide to do and how they decide to behave when faced with all kinds of options, like the choice of handling defeat with grace or throwing an absolute fit.
Because real life is like that too. Just a bunch of choices of how to handle ourselves. We are all just trying to figure out what to do, and how to play the game on our own terms. We are all just people, or as my mom says, we are all naked underneath our clothes. We all care about the same kinds of things when it comes down to it. As crazy as it sounds, the world of celeb-reality has taught me a lot about life. Mostly though, I am reminded that no matter what, none of us are ever really alone because after all, there are a lot of people out there who care about what happens next.
posted by Mary @ 10:57 PM
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