Thoughts on Courage and Smiling
It all started with an apple pie.
Okay, yesterday my friends and I were making apple pie. As my baking skills are nonexistent, I was delegated to cutting apples. My supreme clumsiness proved that even that simple task was too much for me and I ended up slicing part of my finger (shallow in hindsight but with all the blood it seemed much deeper!).
I seriously felt sick to my stomach at the sight and knowing that a flap of my skin was only a few centimeters from being cut off entirely, but I didn't want to worry anybody. So I just wrapped some gauze around the finger and made jokes while I wiped the blood off the counter. One of my friends even wanted to drive me to the emergency room, but I just waved her off and said I didn't want to ruin the evening and spend the night in the emergency room. I think I made the right choice. My finger's doing much better and the apple pie was delicious!
My mind being in withdrawal from One Piece somehow made the connection to Luffy's smile. And a lot of people from One Piece's smiles in general. I think that if I'd let myself loose and go into hysterics, I'd never have recovered at the rate that I did. Sometimes smiling and laughing is the only thing that can make something horrible go away. I don't mean ignoring the pain or pretending that it didn't happen, but not letting the pain rule your life and your reactions. Accepting what happened and moving on. Because if you wallow in your pain, you lose the happiness and joy that life brings. People accuse Luffy of being a "Stepford smiler" or an idiot at times because he just moves on and keeps laughing even through his pain. But if he didn't laugh, he'd cry. His life's been so painful, and he accepts all the bad things that happened to him. But he moves on and is wise enough to know that only through laughing and acting like a fool can you really enjoy life.
So laugh. Live life to its fullest, even through your pain. That is true courage. As Saul would say, "Dereshishishishi! Dereshishishishi!"
Okay, yesterday my friends and I were making apple pie. As my baking skills are nonexistent, I was delegated to cutting apples. My supreme clumsiness proved that even that simple task was too much for me and I ended up slicing part of my finger (shallow in hindsight but with all the blood it seemed much deeper!).
I seriously felt sick to my stomach at the sight and knowing that a flap of my skin was only a few centimeters from being cut off entirely, but I didn't want to worry anybody. So I just wrapped some gauze around the finger and made jokes while I wiped the blood off the counter. One of my friends even wanted to drive me to the emergency room, but I just waved her off and said I didn't want to ruin the evening and spend the night in the emergency room. I think I made the right choice. My finger's doing much better and the apple pie was delicious!
My mind being in withdrawal from One Piece somehow made the connection to Luffy's smile. And a lot of people from One Piece's smiles in general. I think that if I'd let myself loose and go into hysterics, I'd never have recovered at the rate that I did. Sometimes smiling and laughing is the only thing that can make something horrible go away. I don't mean ignoring the pain or pretending that it didn't happen, but not letting the pain rule your life and your reactions. Accepting what happened and moving on. Because if you wallow in your pain, you lose the happiness and joy that life brings. People accuse Luffy of being a "Stepford smiler" or an idiot at times because he just moves on and keeps laughing even through his pain. But if he didn't laugh, he'd cry. His life's been so painful, and he accepts all the bad things that happened to him. But he moves on and is wise enough to know that only through laughing and acting like a fool can you really enjoy life.
So laugh. Live life to its fullest, even through your pain. That is true courage. As Saul would say, "Dereshishishishi! Dereshishishishi!"