The Confounded Notion of a Happily Ever After
(And this is just my opinion)
I like myths with indefinite endings. I am a bit skeptical about those with trite endings, the ones that went off with HAPPILY EVER AFTERs and TILL THE END OF HIS DAYS. Not that I reject the perpetual bliss being suggested entirely and dampen the spirits of those with lofty imaginings of an 8-year old who marvels life like a Disney film but because it is a part of the myth, these fabricated endings, that I can never bring myself to believe in. I believe in a kiss that awakens a hundred years of slumber, I am enthralled with daring sword fights and magic spells. I believe that dragons exist and so does Superman. And I like the obvious fact that dragons exist and that one need not suffer its tyranny all because these dragons can be defeated. I deem these fairytales with its implied truths and inherent lore but there is a part which I can’t bring myself to agree on. And that is the imminence of the HAPPILY EVER AFTER after the kiss. I believe that myths never have endings or happy endings for that matter. I believe that one must read fairytales but not revere them as an end-all-survival-guide to life but as primers for the BIG STORIES waiting to happen or be written in one’s life. I believe that one must keep hold of its implied wisdom but must never have the false impression of a HAPPILY EVER AFTER once the dragon is slain or the glass shoe is slipped on or once the kiss has taken effect. It’s not something I’ve come up since childhood and if you’re wondering, I didn’t grow up in a defective household to inherit this cynicism either. I believe in myths as an effective antidote to the grim realities of life but they are all digressions from the real-life and that is why I cannot reconcile to the spoken EVER AFTER.
Well not yet maybe.
In view of my present situation I have come to question the unspoken denouement of a much-told tale. And I hope you dear readers can share light to its ambiguous conclusion. What became of the little boy who spoke of the emperor’s nakedness? What was the consequence of his bold attempt to speak the truth? I bet you can’t wait to hear my side of the story.
The truth! The truth! In all its rugged harshness!
