Thursday, December 17, 2009

A Christmas Story: "Be Careful What You Wish For"

Warning: There be spoilers below. Though seriously, if you haven't seen A Christmas Story, then...well...you need to fix that.

Every year at Christmas, a major channel plays the movie A Christmas Story for 24 hours, which is great because its my grandfather's favorite Christmas movie and he has a habit of napping. He can nap all day and by the end of the day he's seen the entire movie.

So a Christmas story is about a kid who just really wants a bebe gun (not sure on the spelling there), but everyone keeps telling him he'll shoot his eye out. In the end, his dad gets him the bebe gun. He goes outside to play with it. He shoots it and knocks his glasses off, and he thinks he's shot his eye out. (He didn't. He breaks his glasses).

There is a clear message to this story. We all think we want something, like a gun. We want it more than anything and then when we get it, we break our glasses and cut our cheek. Nothing is ever like what we daydream. In Ralphie's case that means getting a bebe gun doesn't make him the sheriff of his town and capable of protecting his entire family from thieves. In most of our cases, it means that thing we asked for isn't going to fix our lives and make it better.

Sometimes we don't get what we want, but its often worse when we do get what we desparately think we want. We think moving out of the parental home will mean life can start, but suddenly there are bills and real world situations we never had to face before. We think getting married will be the answers to all of our prayers - because of course he's Prince Charming - but then we realize getting married means living with a boy who throws his socks on the floor. So think about what you're desperately asking for in life and your daydreams, and think about if the warnings people are giving you are true. You may indeed shoot your eye out. Does that mean you shouldn't go through with moving out or getting married? Not necessarily. Just learn from the movie. Be aware that nothing is like what you dream and that you should be careful not to shoot your eye out. And with a story prepared for your mother about how an icicle broke your glasses....

Just kidding. I, in no way, promote lying. But please, don't shoot your eye out.



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