Pink Strawberry

 Americans say everyone has a right to these 3 fundamental things and I totally agree. But in today’s world just how much DO we want these?  For example… Life. Does someone who rapes and murders children deserve to live? What about a dictator who has had thousands of people killed?    Or on another planet altogether.. someone who’s sick, has been in an irreversible coma for years-don’t they also have the right to pass away or is their only right to Live?  In Love, Liberty (i.e. Freedom), is a good thing in the sense Freedom to Love who you want, Freedom from restraints, Freedom to marry the one you love…But when it’s Love to give you your freedom…then it’s a different matter.   Freedom to work.. But freedom from work?  The Pursuit of Happiness…This is another fundamental thing. We have the right to go after what makes us happy…… but inevitably, our dreams are nightmares for another person. So if we both pursue this happiness and want the same thing, chances are one person will be happy against another or tens, hundreds.. maybe thousands. I always think of an ex boyfriend’s train journey- I was in a terrible state at one end of his journey-but on the other end, another was happy because of his arrival.The Pursuit of Happiness is chasing a dream. But in my case I can say that I can spend years after a dream, lusting over this one detail-and never feeling fulfilled because this thing is missing-even if everything else is wonderful (it never actually is..!) But the moment a miracle occurs and this dream is realised…then it’s time to pursue another dream. And here goes another few years of chasing… until I get what I want… then again.. and again. How many happinesses are we pursuing in life?Are we allowed the pursuit of only one? And seeing as the dreams fulfilled give us little more than half a day of pleasure, Then… what actually IS happiness? A moments pleasure? We spend our lives pursuing a moment of pleasure? Or different moments of pleasure if we’ve been good? Do we get bonus moments?... Do we get a set number when we’re born? Are they the same number for everyone?... cos it doesn’t seem like it. And if not-WHY has someone got more Moments than me? Did they get more points in an Angel test before we were born? Or are Eastern philosophies The Truth-i.e. they must have been good in their past life and I was a Psycho?.. ..Or are the results based on what we actually go after.. what our happiness involves? But even on this case I’m short changed… I don’t want to be J.Lo, or Rich and Famous… I don’t want to rule the world.     I just want the 3 fundamental things in life that we should be entitled to…  Love, Health and to own a chain of exclusive, top, international, fashion forward, designer stores…!  …………So where’s my moment???        

I’m an old-fashioned gal-I believe in values, tradition, boy-meets-girl-across-a-crowded-room-fall-in-love-get-married-and-live-happily-ever-after and communicating with 40 page letters which friends have to take a day off work for to read. But, seeing we’re in the “age of technology” even I had to bend to internet and emails. Once I’d conquered them, I was ready to move up to “The Chat”. So I signed up for an account with a popular chat site to see what all the fuss was about.The first message that came up asked me if I wanted cam sex … (what??). The second said “Hi” but the profile picture was of a penis… the third and fourth started off with small talk which then lead to “fancy having some fun?”. I was just about to give up when I encountered a guy who seemed nice, all the time I waited for the inevitable … which never arrived! So I figured this chat game could actually turn out fun. So when I’m bored and have nothing to do and can’t sleep, I log in just to see who’s around as, over the months, I’ve met some really interesting people from all over the world. I say people… in reality I’ve always felt like I’m just chatting to my computer and it takes on a different personality each time and writes back in character… As I’m just talking to my friend, The Computer, my good manners and delicacy go out the window-it’s like a mask. No one knows who anyone is and everyone becomes their alter ego. So when, on one of my chats to a guy I’d got to know over some time, he became pissed at a very indelicate statement I made, I didn’t know how to take it. My computer’s getting mad at me??! I came down to earth with a bump and realised-there are actually people on the other side of my screen-people who feel, and who get pissed at indelicate statements. I can’t be the only one whose personality alters in front of her laptop and as this chat game seems to have taken over how people meet, what happens when 2 people who have been communicating over a screen-2 alter egos playing a game-come face to face in reality? Do people who regularly chat leave a margin for “normality”? And, in reality…which is the real Us-the person we show behind a screen or the one we present face to face?