For every good/memorable story there is both a protagonist and an antagonist, and according to Donald Miller, in his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, a stories’ essence lies in the antagonist wanting something and overcoming difficulty in an attempt to get it. I believe that this principle pertains not only to fiction, but also to the non-fiction lives of real people. In other words, for every “good/memorable” life there is both a protagonist and an antagonist, and the protagonist overcomes difficulty in an attempt to get something. This is true also for the single moments of time called memories; each one portrays these same aspects that make life meaningful.
One such memory for me came during a blistering summer, mountain biking on a trail system called slaughter pen. I stood over my bike staring at a technical feature of the trail, several two by four planks of wood, zigzagging across about ten yards, elevated to miniature poodle height. Crashing for the better part of two hours, I sweated out the hundred and fifteen degree weather, trying to gain the right to say I was good enough for the trail. I did finally gain that right, but it was not the completion alone that caused this memory to stick with me. I wanted something, a menace stood between me and satisfaction of my want, and in order to beat the menace I had to overcome difficulty; all three of these things together made a memorable memory.
Martin Luther King, Jr. illustrates the importance of having memorable memories when he says, “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” Our memories are our history, and how much of our life is wasted with unremarkable events? How much of your life you remember is directly correlated to how much of your life is memorable. So, let us live our lives not in the easiest path we can find, but rather let us desire things strongly, fearing no antagonist, dismayed by no difficulty, remembering more.
No comments:
Post a Comment