Dancing In The Pale Moonlight

All it takes is one bad day to fall over the edge and a hundred thousand strides to take it back. Be a passenger in a euphoric, colourful joyride and let’s talk about it.

This is merely a monologue of a singular person traversing the roundabouts of our world. It’s confusing and you almost have to go around twice to get it right. Such as life and.. traffic. And then there are those rarity when you get it right the first go around, it feels utterly good and profoundly appease like a fleeting euphoria when a mist settles and disappears (and yes I am talking about smoking). Tempting fate, an old-age adage that is merely scientific more so mythical, it’s the digital silk road to self-loathing, it’s also the road to gratification and success. The thing with the silk road though beyond the riches it provided was the murderous stares and clandestine dangers that lurked, it’s a double-edge sword, maybe blunt but still a skin-piercing metal.

Taking risks, it’s a cliche but a fact of life, without it, is merely unimaginable as most great things started as such. Even thoughtless, benign endeavours were risks: putting bear traps in a bear county, giving a participation award, work meetings without donuts just to name a few. Risks, even the most subtle things in life, it’s our oxygen and without it is like sniffing carbon dioxide to a slow death via ignorant asphyxiation. The grandest of this very idea seems futile and yet the only road as proven by the ancient’s blunder in history. Such as when in the entire state of Ohio in 1895, there were only two cars on the road, and the drivers of these two cars crashed into each other (take note, in the entire state), and In 1493, while sailing near the Dominican Republic, Columbus claimed that he saw three mermaids (I tried to research if one of them was Ariel from Disney’s Little Mermaid but there were no historical accounts nor scrolls to prove my claim). He didn’t, obviously, but mermaid sightings were not uncommon among sailors of that period. Nowadays, it is generally considered that Columbus actually saw manatees that, despite weighing up to 600 kilograms, could probably be mistaken for a human from a far, perhaps obesity is already prevalent during the age of exploration.

I told you, risks. As you stand over the edge of the world, as a 21st century neanderthal that the Earth is round and you won’t fall over. And if you do, the world will rotate on its own axis to pull you back up, maybe not specifically for you, but it does anyway. From a pint of dusk, crossing darkness to a little bit of dawn, then a full sunrise. It’s the way it works and it always does. Somewhere out there, was a story of a man who was hungry and came across a bountiful Apple tree and instead of climbing to appease his appetite, he laid down under the tree with his mouth open and wait until the fruit drops. He fell asleep and died in peace, albeit hungry. What’s the moral of the story? Take the leap, climb, don’t merely stand still, but someone argued to me before that the poor guy hates Apple and so that was the last straw. He chose his own path like buying a ticket to the zoo and going straight inside the lion’s den and thanking god that the hungry bastard is asleep. It’s a risk, may it be stupid or courageous, you can judge but you may be among a million who stays within the status quo, anhedonic and impotent.

So, let’s ask the question, how is it like to dance in the pale moonlight? First of all, we need to summon our 89-years old, idealistic societal “guru”.

This Writer: Can you please define what it means to “Dance in the pale moonlight”.

Guru: Why would you dance with a bucket on a moonlight?

This Writer: No, Guru. I meant P-A-L-E, not pail.

Guru: Pardon me.. before I answer that, how old are you?

This Writer: I’m 28 going 29.

Guru: Where else will you go from 28? Anyway, to dance in a pale moonlight is what our ancestors called “Dance with your own demons” but of course contemporary writers made it subtle and romanticize the idea.

This Writer: What’s the significance of asking my age?

Guru: Because if you’re in your 30's, you should have known this already.

And the mythical guru is right all along.. your 20’s are “chasing your demons years.” A time where you ditch one day of your 9 to 5 life and write comedy, sing a poem at a karaoke, or take the love of your life for a food trip/beer run and take Tums together afterwards (always bring Tums when going to gastronomical adventures). You are supposed to get lost among the wilderness of hungry lions only to realize that you are actually chasing your own self. 20’s are your playgrounds, you try everything and fail at most of the things. You achieve some success and by the later years. When the 3rd decade unfolds, you now have the audacity to get over the edge of the world and stare at the moon, among the limitless stars that paints your challenges.