The Road Ahead

My boyfriend and I just read The Road and we started discussing it last night during our pre-show dinner at Myers & Chang. In a nutshell, it's a story about the end of the world and, consequently mankind, and the type of people our species becomes in the face of it. I won't beat around the bush, it's a thoroughly bleak novel. Through the monotone narration of the father, which is thoroughly laced with defeated acceptance, a philisophical lens is created, causing the book to linger with you long after you've read it. As we sat there pondering the intent of the author and our own interpretations over gai lan and udon noodles, we couldn't help but veer off into our own personal theories about Existence.

My boyfriend believes there's an overriding spirit out there that gives us/the world/the universe an inkling of rationality and therefore meaning. He doesn't think it's a grand deistic plan at all, but he is of the inclination that we humans are bound together through some kindred spirit. While he was describing it, it sounded so beautiful and hopeful, I couldn't help but try to see the inner goodness in everyone afterward. Although I personally believe our lives are inherently meaningless and absurd (no, I'm not a nihilist), I'd like to believe I hold some of this sublime hope that keeps him going. Now, the hope I see isn't grand and overarching in a higher spirit kind of way, but I do see, despite our aimless and brief lives, that each of us finds within ourselves our own reasons to live until the next day...no matter if that's a god or the beauty of the ocean or the touch of your lover's hand...which in and of itself become grand and omnipotent. No matter what it is.

The possibly best feature our little race possesses is the ability to hope, in whatever form you fashion it.