Brick Walls (Some Nonsense)

This is not so much a story as it is a simple metaphor for life, as I interpreted it one night after a little reflection.

Imagine you're driving. You're driving 100 miles an hour, and you're headed straight for a brick wall that's a million miles away. At some point you realize that you don't have any brakes, and from this you gather that you'll eventually hit that wall. But it's a million miles away, and you can't even really grasp how far that is so you just turn the radio up and sing along, looking out the window, enjoying yourself. But you're also driving next to other people in their cars, and one day you see someone hit their brick wall. It's sudden, and no one saw it coming. And then you realize with horror that brick walls can come out of nowhere, and you might never make it to your brick wall a million miles away. 

Then you see people make it to their brick wall a million miles away and they crash, and it's sad, but at least they were prepared. And then you start to really think, one day you're going to hit that wall, or a wall. And you start to try and hit the brake pedal, knowing that you can't stop but maybe you can slow down a little, and to your horror you start speeding up. Then you think, I better look out the window and really take all this in because I'm going to hit that wall. And you try and take it all in, but you're going so fast that something you saw five minutes ago is like 10 miles behind you now. And one day, you look up in front of you, and you see a speck. And meanwhile a lot more of your friends are hitting their brick walls around you and you barely even notice anymore. And that speck gets a little bigger everyday, and you start to recognize it - it's a wall. It's your wall. 

After a little time panicking, you start to accept it. And then you really start to look out the window, and you pay attention to things. And you try to enjoy things. You've given up trying to slow down your car now, it's just accelerating all the time, and your wall is getting closer and closer. And eventually, there are no more cars around you. You're the only car left. And you stare that wall right in the face, and turn the radio up as loud as it goes, and close your eyes.

 * crash *

This is what life is. It's driving a hundred miles an hour in a car with no brakes, towards a brick wall that used to be a million miles away. Turn the radio up as loud as it goes, and look out the window more. One day you're going to crash.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

This is an inventive and excellent way to look at life. It makes me remember the feelings of shock and helplessness I've experienced when watching others hit their walls. I think we may hit smaller, nonlethal walls, too, like when a heart attack at age 43 changed me from a Corvette to a Yugo overnight. Even though the last wall approaches, I think cinching up the seat belt is still a good idea. This is very good writing.

[D. P. Sumner]

Thank you! I really appreciate that. One day I was sitting there on my couch looking at pictures of my son when he was born and the metaphor just hit me, so just wrote the whole thing down in a note on my phone. It was never meant to be good writing, so I'm really glad and surprised that anyone actually likes it.

Thanks again!

[Carol Cashes]

No words. You used them all. This is brilliant. I'm officially a fan.

[Raeven]

I love this. Most people forget that they're not immortal, and that one day everyone will die. They forget to cherish the small things, even though the small things are what makes life truly enjoyable.