People go round and round on this spinning planet, meeting sometimes, never meeting other times. What's it all about? Why are we here? Where are we going as a human race? Doesn't it seem funny that there are more questions than answers? It's like that Alanis Morrisette song, "Isn't it ironic, don't you think?" What's important in this life? Is it love? Is it happiness? Is it just procreation? Or is it something bigger? Is it something people call, 'God' ? Who knows? Some people like to answer these questions philosophically. Others prefer to answer questions in a more scientific manner.
Comedians answer questions often by making wry observations. They can use humor to ease our pain. We laugh at the truth and sometimes the truth is easier to swallow in comedic form. For example, everybody over the age of 10 knows they are going to die someday, but do we really accept it? Do we live with it? Do we even think of it on a daily basis? Most of us sort of live our lives. Then something happens. An event happens to change our perception; maybe momentarily, perhaps permanently. It can be any kind of thing: a 40th birthday, a car accident, a relative dying, or even something as normal as a day at the beach staring at the ocean waves breaking against the rocks. And with this event, comes a sudden realization of our own mortality.
The answer for many people is children. Children provide a kind of immortality. We know they will live on after we have "shuffled off this mortal coil", as Shakespeare put it. In a way, it lightens our load. We grow older and can accept our demise knowing our children may do great things after us and make their own mark. For others, the simplicity of this argument isn't enough. Many want to leave their own mark in a different way - be it making a ton of money, painting a masterpiece, writing the great American novel (whatever that is), building a hospital wing for Cancer patients, or maybe traveling the world; attempting to see everything they can before their age and/or health makes it impossible to do so.
So, okay, we know we're going to die, we know there are many ways to not think about that; many distractions, many endeavors, many paths to the same end road. And when I say 'end road' perhaps this is even a falsity. Who's to say death is the end? But, while we're here, perhaps we should just try to do a couple things right: and that's just to love and be loved.
The Beatles said it: All You Need is Love. The greeting cards taut it. Commercials, films, books, magazines, the Internet profess it. It's the only thing that really seems to counteract the inevitable: love. For in the act of trying to love people, unselfishly, one ascends to another plateau. It's like drinking a magic potion. Love has it's own rewards. It may not be the answer to every question, but at least it's 'an answer'. But, hey maybe we don't even need an answer, maybe love is a question or a verb or a noun or a formulae. Who knows? Try it, you make like it. Love...what a novel idea.
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