Wednesday 19 April 2017

Anything Can Happen Day

Although I started work on this entry in the small hours of the morning, I was sidetracked by the intensity of general life, and now Anything Can Happen Day is drawing to a close.

It was as a child that I first saw a film exploring the age-old premise of enemies trapped together in a closed environment where they must cooperate in order to survive. It was entitled Enemy Mine, and although it performed hideously at the box office, I maintain that it was a beautiful film, and one that remains close to my heart.

To summarise its relevance here: the human protagonist, Davidge, and his bitter enemy, an alien named Jeriba, are stranded together on a hostile planet and have learned to communicate. During one of their many arguments early on, Davidge angrily retorts to a quotation from Jeriba’s holy book by stating that back on Earth, it is now Wednesday, and according to Mickey Mouse, that means it’s Anything Can Happen Day.

Jeriba naturally assumes that Mickey Mouse is a great prophet to humans, and the throwaway comment attains a degree of gravity that makes him ponder on it with reverence. This theme is both evocative and thought-provoking on a number of levels: one of them being the way in which a seemingly simple, almost arbitrary statement like this one can become quite profound if it is meditated upon sufficiently.

The single most transcendent incident in my life so far took place on a Wednesday, and through the filter of confirmation bias, I could probably find many other reasons to justify there is something special about Wednesday, of all days. ‘Anything’ may be a perfectly neutral word, but being the pathetic optimist that I am, I think of this concept as symbolising an above-average probability of something miraculous taking place.

For a long time now, I’ve been making small steps toward precipitating major change for the better in my life, and I think the moment has arrived to make a solid commitment. There is a lot of truth in the idea that there will never be a ‘perfect time’ to do certain things, one simply has to seize the day and make a decision. On the other hand, it is also true that forcing the hand of nature, so to speak, is an exercise in futility, and any attempt to instigate change at a genuinely unfavourable moment is doomed to fail.

I have decided that this particular Anything Can Happen Day is the day when I stop fart-assing around, take ownership of my future, and push the throttle open as far as it will go. April 19, 2017 is not yet a particularly memorable date, but by my decisions and my actions, I have the power to make it so.

After all, it's Wednesday, so anything can happen. Let's see if Mickey Mouse was right.

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