Addicted

Alright. I'll just cut right to the chase today. I started watching "Grey's Anatomy" last night. For anyone who has ever watched this show, it can probably go without saying that I am almost done with the first season after only 24 hours. It is seriously so dramatic!!! The acting is great, the music is great, and while the story line isn't super duper original, it works quite well. And since I'm an English major now, I've been thinking like one a lot more these days. You see, getting addicted to a television show isn't new for me. The same thing happened to me with the office during March of my senior year of high school. I kept thinking, Dang, I'm so lazy! My life is wasting away! I know it's not exactly a great choice to sit and watch TV shows all day, but I think that sometimes our reasons aren't bad. There is a reason why we get so addicted.

Here's the thing. People like stories. It's not surprising, really. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom reading me stories before bedtime. All through high school, there was always some "story" of how to solve the equation, the "journey" one should take to write a paper, or the "tale" of going to prom. The human experience is a story. Our collective existence is the big one, but each of us also have these completely intricate and totally awesome stories. And I think television has figured out that our individual stories are all connected somehow. So when we see a spicy love affair, the lustful part of us just says "once upon a time....." because maybe we don't agree with the love affair...but in some ways, it's happening to us simply because we are human. 

The characters in "Grey's Anatomy" are imperfect, and that's why I can identify with them so very well. One is arrogant and bitter about the world. I can be that way sometimes. One of them can't seem to do anything right. How well the audience can relate to that! And then the constant complications of relationships, or a lack thereof is something I ponder as an outside looking in almost everyday. I'm addicted to how they figure everything out. Every time a new episode starts, I keep watching because maybe if they finish their story, I can have new hope to finish mine. I know it's twisted because my story isn't theirs...but there is still this deep connection. I want to see them grow. I want to see them happy, successful. I'm addicted to humanity's story.