Hey, I'm no great thinker, but even I could see that was going to end badly. But, like I said, that was why I showed you the thing in the first place. You get me? I picked Tom and Sara and Georgina for a couple of reasons. One reason I picked them was there was no particular reason to pick them, right? The names, the time, the jobs, the superficial details of stuff that happened - the paint job - all that might well belong to them, but really, they could have been anyone, anywhere. The story, if you know what I mean, the story is pretty much fixed: all they can do is use their own handwriting to put it down. Tom might feel he is hurting 'cause he's lost Sara, but he's just hurting 'cause that's what happens to anyone at this point. The chemicals he's been getting are close to cocaine or nicotine not just 'casue they induce the same kind of pleasure, but 'cause they're addictive like them too. Really, I'm not kidding you here; these things aren't all that different. It's no wonder that now he's feeling just like someone who's going cold turkey. And, yeah, it's my doing, again. I wanted you people to keep things going, and that meant not only making it good to get together but making it bad to be apart. Carrot and stick, you see what I'm saying?
But he's not missing Sara; he's just missing his partner. All tthat stuff about people being meant for each other or - what is it some of you say? "Somewhere, there's one person for everyone - it's just down to the two of them to finding each other." What? I ask you, is that any way to run a species? Your "special person" is simply a person who's available. Just one person for each other person? You die out. The fact is, the reason your partner is beside you right now hasn't got anything to do with destiny and paired souls - it's just 'cause they were around. They were around, a fw smells and features were close enough to fit you, and the way tour head works meant that you came to believe that they were "special." You see that, right? I mean, if you think about it for just a moment even, you're bound to realize I'm being straight with you here.
George is famous. Dick Cheney is famous too. You think Tom would have been attracted to Dick Cheney, if they'd met? I know it's against your nature, okay, but don't complicate things. Things are simple. Mostly, you just pair off by attractiveness - I figured this was as good a way to do it as any. All the things that strongly influence a friendship - similar interests, personal beliefs, intelligence, yadda, yadda, yadda - are completely outweighed when men and women pair up in relationships by how similar they are in the good-looks stakes. I can't count the number of your scientists who've done experiments that have shown this. One guy at UCLA even did this study and found that the closer matched pairs were in physical attractiveness, the more likely they were to have "fallen more deeply in love." Ha! I am good, or what? Another one of these study things found there was a really high hit rate when people tried to match husbands and wives together from their wedding pictures based on nothing but how close they were when ranked by looks. I mean - come on - I don't even need to tell you all about this, do I? It can't be like you haven't noticed it, right?
I'm not saying you don't feel anything, but you feel it 'cause of oxytocin and vasopressin and endotrophins and 'cause that's the game plan, not 'cause of anything mystic. There isn't anything mystic. When a junkie wants his fix, he really wants his fix - it's real. But whatever he tells himself, you can see it's just the drug pulling the strings, right? I know it's tough to step outside on this one, but it's the same thing here - it's just different drugs.
Which kind of brings me to the second reason I picked Tom: it's because we got to see a little of the aftermath. I'm kind of hoing that by understanding Tom's misery - how it came about and what it is - you'll understand your own when it happens. And that understanding it will make it be not so bad. I know I screwed up - I've told you that, and I'm not trying to avoid anything here - but maybe it'll be a bit bettter if you realize that this is all nothing but, you know, molecules and opportunity.
Okay, okay, sure - I've simplified stuff. Who wouldn't? Makes my head ache just thinking about all the biochemistry and the whatever - the neurology - and the variations and all that. But, overall, it's always pretty much the same. And, all the time, however complex the mixture might be, there's no pixie dust in it, you know what I'm saying? Like that guy said ... what was he called? Whatever, it doen't matter, he said - Ryle! That was his name. Cheesh - I'm losing it, I really am. Anyways, like I was saying, however much you 're going to say it's complicated and you can't get some big computer to work out all the interactions and all thay, however complex it is ... there's no "ghost in teh machine," okay?
I'm hoping that'll give you some comfort. I really should have guessed that, the way you are, you'd see meaning and magic in love - because you like tot see meaning and magic in yourselves and you believe love is the most human thing there is - the thing that makes you what you are. I never intended that, but I should have guessed it. So, I came here to tell you straight how things really work. To make amends for my oversight. So that the next time you feel like crap 'cause of all this stuff, you can say, "Sure, I feel like crap. But it's just molecules - I'm not being crshed by, you knkow, destiny or anything." It'll still hurt, but you'll have perspective, right? Stick your hand in a flame and it hurts like crazy - but you don't take it personal, right? You don't let it break your spirit.
So, Tom and Sara didn't work out. That's a shame. I like things to work out; I was really cut up about the Neanderthals, for example. But they'll get over it. They weren't meant to be together - or not meant to be together - they just met and were togehter for a while. Molecules and opportunity. That's the way you've got to look at these things. I hope you understand now, and it'll help you all, and, you know, that my explaining everything here makes up for the way I took my eye off the ball a little with this one.
You all take good care of yourselves, okay?
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