FADE TO GOLD
by Loy Carlos
THE LAND OF MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Thanks to social media, we now are besieged and infested with alleged “influencers” and “thought leaders” who have convinced many that passion combined with some cleverly timed and consistent post will deliver for us the kind of fulfillment we’ve all been seeking. It’s almost always the twenty-something-year-old who boasts about being a self-made, multimillionaire entrepreneur who claims to have started something from nothing, never mind that they summer in Ibiza on their parents' yacht.
Then there are the gurus who offer life advice about how you can change the entire trajectory of your life with some mix of herbal supplements, their fitness regime, and reading the book they did not actually write themselves. In that book, you will learn to decode every human being you’ll ever meet and know exactly what is happening in every situation. Apply the beauty regimen of that young man or woman with great skin and who literally just finished the post-pubescent acne stage. Learn and master the business techniques from a “self-made celebrity” who spends all their time making videos. So when do they do actual business? But so what?
I concede there is an argument to be made about carpe diem. Because one thing I’ve learned about life, as one gets older, one begins to face the reality that there are things that will never be. When you’re young, a world of opportunities is open to you. As years pass, they go from possibilities to improbabilities to impossibilities.
There are certain things in life you can’t relive. For instance, I often wonder what if I had made different choices? I’d always imagined that if what I’m doing ends up not working out, I could always go back to med school. I would have been a great doctor. Honestly, I likely would be a more diligent student now. More diligent, but not better. Not with a mind and body no longer in their prime.
It’s also highly unlikely I’ll ever compose the great Broadway musical I had always dreamt of doing. Musicals are different now. The music is different. The themes are different. The audience is different. Even the best composers and writers struggle to get enough of the audience they deserve, to justify the huge expense needed to produce a lasting show. Plus, the more I know about the realities of life, I find myself having less to say.
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FADE TO GOLD
by Loy Carlos
THE LAND OF MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Thanks to social media, we now are besieged and infested with alleged “influencers” and “thought leaders” who have convinced many that passion combined with some cleverly timed and consistent post will deliver for us the kind of fulfillment we’ve all been seeking. It’s almost always the twenty-something-year-old who boasts about being a self-made, multimillionaire entrepreneur who claims to have started something from nothing, never mind that they summer in Ibiza on their parents' yacht.
Then there are the gurus who offer life advice about how you can change the entire trajectory of your life with some mix of herbal supplements, their fitness regime, and reading the book they did not actually write themselves. In that book, you will learn to decode every human being you’ll ever meet and know exactly what is happening in every situation. Apply the beauty regimen of that young man or woman with great skin and who literally just finished the post-pubescent acne stage. Learn and master the business techniques from a “self-made celebrity” who spends all their time making videos. So when do they do actual business? But so what?
I concede there is an argument to be made about carpe diem. Because one thing I’ve learned about life, as one gets older, one begins to face the reality that there are things that will never be. When you’re young, a world of opportunities is open to you. As years pass, they go from possibilities to improbabilities to impossibilities.
There are certain things in life you can’t relive. For instance, I often wonder what if I had made different choices? I’d always imagined that if what I’m doing ends up not working out, I could always go back to med school. I would have been a great doctor. Honestly, I likely would be a more diligent student now. More diligent, but not better. Not with a mind and body no longer in their prime.
It’s also highly unlikely I’ll ever compose the great Broadway musical I had always dreamt of doing. Musicals are different now. The music is different. The themes are different. The audience is different. Even the best composers and writers struggle to get enough of the audience they deserve, to justify the huge expense needed to produce a lasting show. Plus, the more I know about the realities of life, I find myself having less to say.
Continue
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© Classiques Modernes All Rights Reserved
