Myself and the Bus
This is my entry for this weeks Fifty Word Story Challenge posted by @jayna. The prompt was "chase":
I step out and see the bus down the street. There is heavy traffic, "Can I make it, by the next stop?"
I set off, but for every pace I advance, the bus creeps farther away.
So much like my ever striving to achieve the self I yearn to become.
I was inspired by my understanding of an application of Zeno's 'Achilles and the Tortoise'' paradox. Wikepedia.
P.S.
Some thoughts concerning the role of conflict/resolution in narratives presented in this weeks challenge post:
I've thought a lot about this conflict/resolution question, particularly when watching movies or reading books.
I'll always say to myself, "Well why did she do that? How could he not have seen to do this? If only she'd done this or that?"
But this of courses raises the question that if all the difficulties were anticipated and proper measures taken, there would be no story.
The even bigger question for me though is how does this dynamic take shape in our life? Is this attachment to drama part of the inescapable human tendency to create difficulty for ourselves?
I can only hope that the inverse is true. That our understanding and enjoyment of the dramatic nature of stories is a reflection of the developmental process lived out in our individual and communal existence, and that this process is inevitable for growth and evolution. Our muscles don't become stronger by relaxing. Like the larvae that cannot become a healthy butterfly if it is helped out of it's cocoon.
The above story is my first attempt at 'microfiction' and I cannot confidently say I got it right at all though... It's hard for me to make it not read like a free form prose poem. On the other hand I'd like to think that the fiction I do write is something like that anyway...
Thank You for reading!
Nice story!
On the topic of conflict/ resolution and understanding character motives. I think that you can always justify actions as a storyteller. When it comes to real life it gets more complex because of system 1 and system 2 behaviour's and how each of our brain's reacts differently to different stimuli. I don't think we ever search to make life more difficult, we just think it's more difficult than it actually is.
I agree very much with this view.
All storytelling must exaggerate a bit in order to be a good story. It's a stylistic device and should be enjoyed as such. Storytelling is compressed and exaggarated reality. It leaves out all the ordinary every day tasks and handlings. It has a message and likes to ambassador it.
Unfortunately, movies nowadays appear so realistically that people tend to confuse fiction with reality and think life should or is that way we see it on screen.
Fortunately, people also are much more intelligent as one might assume, on the other hand ;-)
Thanks :)
You're right, I didn't think of that. In that sense stories can function as a means of gaining perspective. Stories can also show us, if intended, that things are in fact less problematic..
You describe very vividly the struggle to not knowing who one is.
There is either a future to fear (the escaping bus) or a past to carry (the yearning and the "creeping" quality)
Each thing serves as a contrast to another thing and is found in both its strongest and weakest forms. If you look at your everyday life, you will perhaps find 5 percent drama, the rest is simply ordinary life, routine, exchanging information, getting along. The opposite of drama is probably boredom or standstill. Between these two there are infinitely many gradations and colors. There are positive aspects of the dramatic like the energy and the fire, the action and the bravery and just as the long time has its justification, its leisure hours, to step on a spot and feel comfortable there, without the hectic of the world. Of course you can also go crazy in boredom, go mad and become dramatic there, then you are stuck in a very exhausting tension.
Most of the drama is in ones head. Course, you know this :)
So true. My own life has had long periods of utter stagnation juxtaposed with events so fantastic I feel people would struggle to believe me if I told them.
Posted using Partiko Android
will you ever tell them?
You are under a synonym, so why not give it a try? Though, if you think it makes people aroused or wouldn't do good to the greater realm it probably would be good to keep those stories?
... I think you are a skilled storyteller and have a good balance - not superstitious and heroic nor cold blooded and uncaring. Maybe you should tell them under the fiction tag ;-)
Deleted repeat comment.
P.s. There is obviously a logical progression of time which I could rely on, but I find it more and more difficult to think strictly in that way as experiences seem to connect in a kind of parallel fashion that is hard to explain.
Posted using Partiko Android
Welcome to my world :) Once I start to think about experiences and to what they relate and in which field of resonance I move I find it more and more difficult to find a thinking pattern. To not think linear but multidimensional can be a dangerous thing. I think, indeed people got insane by doing so. Everything can become relative and in the holistic view of human existence one jeopardizes ones own empathy.
Fortunately we all in principle are able to be aware of that danger and can work on it not to fall for crazy spirals. Humor helps a lot. And being down to earth with physical stuff.
A few months ago I actually got rid of everything I'd written.
So I'm starting afresh now. Hopefully with more maturity and a clearer sense of intention in what I create. Thank you for the compliments and affirmation:)
I also have kind of blockage issues, I find some things very hard to express for now. I've also forgotten a great deal for various reasons.
I think my stories do and will come out naturally as I relate what I'm trying to convey with my experiences and why I do feel the way I do and how I am able to convey it...
I am definitely considering a biographical series, but it's all still so jumbled in my mind. I'm still trying to kind of get it all in order..
Posted using Partiko Android
Interesting illustration of that paradox. It has been broken by Venezuelan pedestrians after 3 hours waiting for anything with wheels. They can outrun the Flash himself. :)
Ultimetly It's not foolproof but relatively I am a fool ;-)
Posted using Partiko Android
Nice story and really enjoyed the after thoughts and the discussion it has prompted..
It's hard to advance when your goal keeps moving... :O
😄😇😄
Thanks !
Posted using Partiko Android
Very nice metaphor, @goastrighter! This is a very poignant story.
Thank you @jayna! I liked the challenge of needing to reduce the words to only the essential .
Posted using Partiko Android