Oct 3, 07:48 AM · Existential Space Monkey
I almost got into a car wreck this morning. I was turning off of the interstate on the green arrow, when suddenly there was a Taurus zooming beside me, moving onto the shoulder as I slammed on the break. This guy ran the light, and not just by a little bit. There was someone in front of me in the off ramp, so the light on the street turned red, a full second passes, the green arrow for us pops on, and the car in front of me slowly turns into his lane. All in all about ten seconds from when his light turned red to where I was entering the turn.
I was shaken a bit, gave him a little honk and moved on. Accidents happen, I thought, we’re lucky a collision was avoided and no one was hurt. No harm, no foul. His route matched mine the rest of the way into work. As I turned into the parking lot, I watched him pass in the rearview, and I was surprised to see his young children and him staring at me.
Then I got mad. They were looking at me like it was my fault.
“You asshole, you’re the one who ran the light and almost killed your kids,” I thought to myself. Although in hindsight, I hope they do spend some time talking about me in the future, preferably around the dinner table, as that ‘crazy wild-eyed boy that almost killed us all.’ My words, not his.
However, this got me thinking, as Broderick said in Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” Mister Asshole-Driver, please think of that when you are running late getting your rugrats to school. You’ll get there when you get there, driving like a jerk won’t help you get there faster.
And finally, I come to back to how this relates to comics. I know, you are thinking, how is this possible, but it is! I am going to relate a cheezy story to you, about how a movie got me thinking and changed my life. The movie is (save the groaning until afterwards, please) Fight Club. As I left the theatre after my first viewing, I got the feeling it influenced a few people, especially the ones that were saying, “dude, let’s start a fight club!” Not the point of the movie testosterone-laden boy, but go for it. I too have been punched in the ear, and it freaking hurts, so go learn the hard way. No, the part of the movie that got me thinking were the questions about when you died. If you died tomorrow, had you accomplished what you wanted to do? All I wanted to do was comics, and I realized that I hadn’t achieved that goal, that I wasn’t even close to having a comic done. Had I died the next day, I’d have been a bit of unrealized potential at best and a failure at worst.
Now, had I plowed through the Red-light Runner this morning and God forbid killed us all, with three issues done and three pages to finish drawing for my fourth, I feel pretty damn good about myself. I’ve made a decent attempt, and really, that is all anybody can do. Keep plugging along at your goal, and be sure to look around every once in awhile.