Why I like: Stories

Stories appeal not only to my love of beginnings, but to my intrinsic desire to be rewarded for being good. Stories that end up with happy endings have direct rewards for the good characters. Stories that end with sad endings make us feel for "that noble, tragic hero." Both fill me with passion and exuberance, albeit in very different ways. I didn't stand up and yell "Eff yeah!!" at the end of Life is Beautiful; the only tears I cried in Iron Man were tears made out of pure awesome, which immediately transformed into bullets.

Stories also appeal to me because it makes me feel like my life has the capability of being an adventure, just like the books I read. They make me reflect on the type of person (the type of character?) people see me as.

In stories, the lead character being remembered as a noble person who should have had a happy ending actually creates more feeling in me than a happy ending. I would love to have a happy ending. In real life, a happy ending is definitely preferable to a tragic one. But even if my life goes down in flames, it is just as satisfying to have many people say that, "You deserve better, based on all the good you have accomplished for me and everyone else you know."

I know that God doesn't work on the rewards system. I know that we don't necessarily earn the things that happen to us, good or ill. But, for better of for worse, real people do work on the "What have you done for me lately?" system. Having people think well of me in that way is an admirable thing, in my book. I don't do life for the approval of men, but it is undeniably a wonderful feeling when someone expresses those sentiments towards me.

Sometimes I wish my life were more like a book, with a set antagonist whose defeat ensured me a happy ending. Sometimes I feel that my life is more like a tragic story than any I've read recently. Those comparisons fuel the feeling that my life is a grand and exciting story. The hopes and dreams I have are excited by the stories I read/watch and embodied in the fiction I write. I like stories because I am one.