It's a wonderful life

 

I've just seen It's A Wonderful Life on TV. Well, the end bit of it. I have never seen this film all the way through. Always the end bit. Why is it that TV companies start this film at a time I do not know about?

Can you imagine what your life would have been like if it was not this life?

You are all probably married, or not. With children and grand-children. Or not. Doing this job, or that. Or not. You are living your lives now. But how would it have been if it was a different life?

In a different life I would probably have been working in a zoo rather than in management in a multi-national.

I've always loved animals, although they have not always loved me. 

Even at work in management we have animals. Plenty of rats around here I tell you. And snakes who slide under a door without opening it. Or try to climb the greasy pole of success.

But I like real animals. I remember kissing a hedgehog once. One of the spiny needles broke off and stuck on my lips. I ran to the vet. He took the needle off my lip and told me it is a frog I am supposed to kiss. I did not get a princess. Only an infection on my lip!

I like all sorts of animals. I like horses. I spent a fortune donating money for sick horses. Mind you, I did not know they were sick when I bet on them to win the race.

I like fish too. I remember having a goldfish called Thumper because he thumped his tail against the glass tank whenever I fed him. When he died I had him on toast for breakfast. Now that's real love that is.

I remember helping a bee once. I found her lying on the ground almost dying. I sprinkled a few grains of sugar next to it and she ate a bit. Apparently she'd gone on strike and the Queen Bee fired her from the hive. She had complained that it is pointless working hard gathering honey from all the flowers and then a man with a net on his head and a smoke machine comes and takes all the honey away. The argument gained momentum with the other bees so the Queen Bee fired their leader out of the colony. She ate some of the sprinkled sugar and died. Apparently, you should never give tired bees sugar. It is bad for them. I read it afterwards that I had unknowingly killed a bee. 

I would have liked to be a lion whisperer like my uncle. He finally fulfilled his ambition minutes before he died!

Yes, in a different life I would have been in a zoo. Probably shuffling elephants' droppings rather than shuffling papers in the office.

But I like my present life. Mundane as it is. 

Why is it that practicing playing the flute involves the same three or four notes over and over again until I am out of my mind? Who invented the stupid instrument anyway? What is the point of the flute?

Why is it that cats do their business in a litter tray that needs to be cleaned and not in a neighbour's garden where I don't have to deal with it?

Why is it that the dog poops in the garden and I have to clear it up, and not him?

Why is it that I leave the trash bin neatly outside my house, yet when the trash people empty it they leave it just anywhere yards away from my house?

Why is it in TV adverts every family is young and happy just because they bought something inane like toothpaste, or potato chips, or something equally stupid? Real life isn't like that.

Why is it that TV companies always broadcast It's A Wonderful Life from the middle of the film?

Would my life have been better in a zoo? Probably not.

How would your life have been different if it was not as it is today?