If this thing that we call “Life” were something optional,
as if someone tried to sell it to you,
like when you go to the store for one thing
and the man working tries to sell another that you don't need,
or as if someone tried to get you to sign up to join,
like the workers of a cable company
who try to get you to switch to their services,
I wonder how many of us would “sign-up” for this journey known as Life?
I imagine that,
if Life were something that people had to “sign up” to be apart of,
it would be advertised in an interesting, deceitful way.
I imagine it would be similar to the same way in which
those cheap products seen on TV,
the ones on late at night,
are sold by overly dressed sales women
claiming that the product will dramatically change your life,
when, in fact,
everyone knows that the product is cheap and is likely not to work right.
However, some brave soles are still willing to buy the product anyway,
and even agree to pay the ridiculously high cost for shipping and handling.
If Life were a vacation package
that was trying to be sold,
I don't believe many people would buy it.
How would it be advertised?
Life is like the mystery flavor of lollipops,
no one jumps for it right away.
No one is excited when they rip open a bag of lollipops
and find all mystery flavors.
For some,
this mystery packaging brings happiness,
it is the best tasting lollipop they could have gotten.
But for others,
the mystery flavor is unbearable,
it leaves a rotten taste on the tongue,
and they want to throw it out to grab a new one.
You never know what you will get,
like when you open a cereal box with a mystery prize.
You hope for the best possible prize,
but are likely to find a cheap toy,
simply because there was only a few of the top prizes sent out
and the chances, quite frankly, were not in your favor.
If Life were something people had to sell,
I imagine their spiel may sound like such:
“If you sign up for Life,
you could have the chance to become rich, famous, or anything you please!
You could have your dream job,
you could have an amazing, loving, happy family.
In Life, there are many beautiful places you could go!
You could meet several people
who will grow to be your close friends.
You can make amazing, happy memories
filled with laughter and joy!
Life is great! Sign up today!”
Naive people may think this was a great idea,
and before questioning anything further,
they would jump on board and set sail for the journey,
with hope and a sense of happiness.
But, if I were selling the trip to Life,
I would be honest.
I believe in honesty,
and quite frankly,
I like to know exactly what I'm signing up for.
My spiel would be honest, as such:
“If you sign up for Life,
I can not guarantee you a single thing.
You will have to work harder than you can imagine
in order to get what you want sometimes.
Life does not owe you anything.
And sometimes, you will not get what you want,
no matter what you do.
And sometimes, you will not even get what you may deserve.
You begin as a youth and gradually get older.
Many, many things will happen.
In Life, you will meet many other people,
but no guarantee you will like them.
Some are loud, some funny, some quiet,
some caring, some rude, some beautiful,
some hateful, some creative, some deceitful,
some rich, some poor, some smart, some ignorant.
And, sometimes, you can try to be friendly with everyone you meet,
but some people will just not like you.
But that is okay.
Most likely, you will meet someone who you like.
In Life, there are many opportunities,
but you will not get everyone you want.
There will be laughter, fond memories, good times.
But, there will be fights.
And there will be people you love who stop loving you.
You will lose friends and loved ones,
maybe just lose connection, or maybe lose to death.
There will be heart breaks where you can feel you heart literally aching.
There will be days of sorrow, stress, and tears.
You are likely to make several, several bad mistakes.
These happen to everyone.
And there will be days where you will regret your decision of voluntarily signing up for this.
Oh, and I forgot to mention,
your experience of Life does indeed have an expiration date.
But no, I can not tell you it.
No one can tell you, it is not stamped on you.
Your Life can be short or long,
you may be sick or healthy,
poor or wealthy...
Again, I can not guarantee you anything.
You have the chance to make your life what you want it.
But it may or may not work in your favor.”
And after I were done,
trying to sell this one way ticket to Life,
I would simply ask:
“Does this sound like something you are interested in?”