Simply… one of my favorite phrases ever. So much so, in fact, that I use it constantly. I share it when my friends come crying to me after a breakup, when there’s a tragedy amongst loved ones, when writer’s block plagues my peers, when my cousin’s bunny has a heart attack, when an earthquake rattles the bones of the land and topples all the deserted old sheds.
And then I got to thinking, perhaps it can be used overmuch. Or sometimes, it shouldn’t really be used at all. Consider it in the context of your workplace, according to your profession. As a school teacher or member of the clergy, you could very well give an encouraging shot of hope and adrenaline to your pupil. As a friend in need, it’s a comforting promise to deliver. And it’s safe too!—who can prove you wrong? Supposing it’s not yet the end.
But as a ghostwriter and author, I must be sparing with this phrase—as must screenwriters, historians, and playwrights. “Okay? In the end? Since when are the greatest works done by man okay in the end? Are you forgetting Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex? Shakespeare’s Othello? Euripides’ Antigoni? George Orwell’s 1984? Elie Wiesel’s Night? Were you born and bred under a rock?”
Supposing a ghostwriter completely screws up with a manuscript, or an architect with a building, or a midwife with a birth; the last thing people want to hear is that it will all be okay in the end. Don’t say it! (Trust me—you’ll remember me on this.) Hello! What exactly are they paying you for? They want it to be okay now. (License to freak out is issued then, by the way.)
And what about as a doctor? Or as a pharmacist! Can you imagine the response of the customers and patients? “Okay? In the end? The end? What end? End? Are you calling me dead? What the hell man… I am so not paying you for this aspirin.”
And what about all the people who are already happy…who are already okay. Supposing the phrase is prophetic, this could be like a double-edged sword; if you are not okay, it’s not the end, so no worries—but if you are ok, then is it the end? Our goal in life is to be “okay,” but if that implies the end, who wants to be okay?
Food for thought, but at the end of the day, I’m still unable to sway my love for the optimism of those words. Oh well, that’s okay.
I mean—not okay.
"Angreek87"
No comments:
Post a Comment