Life As A Book

I think of life as a good book.

The further you get into it, the more it begins

to make sense.

– Harold Kushner

I read this and thought, “Wow, isn’t that the truth?” And then, as is often the case, my mind couldn’t leave it at that and I began to wonder, “What kind of book are we talking about here?” For example, if it’s a mystery – you know, with lots of red herrings thrown in – then, maybe it wouldn’t make sense until the very end. I can see it now: my life as a mystery novel and it’s not until I’m on my deathbed when I’m saying, “Ah, now I get it!” I don’t know about you, but for me that would be no good.

Or what if it’s a work of science fiction? Just when I’d work out the rules for the plot, a whole new set of rules could be thrown in. It would be like speaking English my whole life, being proficient, in fact, in a land of English speakers only to find that everyone around me is now speaking Eλληνικα (that’s Greek) and I’m totally lost because, well, it’s all Greek to me. Which of course it would be, although I might not know it. While this kind of life might not begin to make more sense, at least it might be interesting.

I suppose it could be a cook book, with ingredients listed and directions all laid out – but then that might be too predictable. Where would be the fun in that? Or maybe it would be not just a good book (as in the quote), but The Good Book. To be honest, I’m not sure I’d have any better handle on it by the time I got to the end…I mean, have you read The Book of Revelation? I think I might be better off with the mystery book.

So where do I go from here?

I think that if I were to compare life to a book, I might like to choose a blank journal. In life, each day offers a fresh, new opportunity; a blank page. And with each day, we, the authors, write the stories of our lives. Each person’s book would likely be filled with some mystery, a little romance, and times of confusion. Sometimes it would be ordered and predictable, and maybe a little boring. It might be a comedy, a tragedy, or a drama. In life, we are offered so many possible experiences.

If life is like a good book, then I’d like to think that we are writing it instead of just reading it. That way, we could always change the direction of the plot if we didn’t like where it was going, and we would know that we could act rather than react to the people, events, and circumstances we encounter. If there is truth in the quotation and we do make more sense of life as we get further into it, then maybe that’s because we make the choices that fill the pages. At least I’d like to think so.