This is the story of Rattus. He’s kinda my hero.
Rattus, for reasons known only to Rattus, made a bold decision one day. Rattus went after what he wanted. If he succeeded he would be living his ideal life. If he failed? He was dead. You can’t be any more committed than that – 100%
This is Rattus (bottom left):
To explain, Rattus lives in a zoo and, one day, decided to grab some lunch from the enclosure of a very large cat. And here’s the amazing thing. He lived. Not only that, the cat sniffed him, nudged him but then left him completely alone and let him help himself to all the chow he could stuff into his belly (full story here).
Ok, so it’s a cute animal story and yes there are lots of explanations: It’s a fluke. It’s a jungle cat who wasn’t hungry. It’s a stupid rat who doesn’t know any better. It’s sometimes-shit-just-works-out-completely-contrary-to-natural-logic-and-the-universe.
C’mon.
Tell yourself what you’d like. Here’s what I’m telling myself: whatever crazy impetus Rattus had to stride boldly into that enclosure, strut up to that cat’s food and start chowing down like it weren’t no thang – that impulse is why the cat didn’t eat him. It’s respect.
Or maybe that’s just the kind of thing I like to believe because I have a soft spot for people who take chances. Especially when everyone else thinks they are nuts (speaking of which, if you missed yesterday’s post you gotta check it out HERE).
When I set out to become a writer years ago no one really told me I couldn’t do it. That kinda thing is too direct for most folks and the smart people know that whenever you tell someone they can’t so something it just reinforces their committment to said thing – for more examples of this please consult your teenaged daughter’s douche of a boyfriend:
(via HCw/DB)
People never came right out and said I “can’t” make it as a writer. They said something waaaaay more insidious, “Writer, huh? Great. But you know it might be good to have a back up plan.”
So I told them my back up plan was “rockstar”.
Never did have to strap on an axe. Took a helluva lot of work, but the writing thing worked out a-ok… at least for now.
Fuck back up plans.
I’m with Rattus. And so’s this guy – who bet his whole life on one spin on the wheel of fate.
Win or lose, at least we took a chance:
8 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 6, 2009 at 11:00 am
Wil
I love the line from the casino representative, “We would never knowingly condone or accept someone taking a wager of their entire life savings…”
But then, of course, they do.
October 7, 2009 at 8:38 am
mattanew
I know. It’s great.
The dark part of me wants to see what that room would’ve looked like if he’d lost but that’s not exactly newsworthy (and I’m sure people lose their life savings at casinos all the time without any pomp of ceremony – the writer in me would love to see what those moments look like too).
October 6, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Alex Epstein
I’m with ya. My backup plan is I DON’T HAVE A BACKUP PLAN.
Because if you have one, that’s effort and time you’re not spending on your PLAN.
Fuck, I hope it continues to work.
October 7, 2009 at 8:42 am
mattanew
Or is it, make a plan based on a choice that isn’t motivated by fear – that plan will work or it won’t – what’s important is that you had the courage to committ to it? (I’ll have a post on that scenario soon – interesting stuff).
October 6, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Victoria Westcott
Awesome. Love it. And agreed – fuck back-up plans. I’m going for gold.
October 7, 2009 at 8:42 am
mattanew
Give ‘er
October 7, 2009 at 8:58 am
Last Day Dream « Wakkanew
[...] Wow | Tags: death, dying, last day, love, the end | by mattanew While I’m going on about taking chances and cutting your own path through life wherever it may take you I figured I should post [...]
October 26, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Gaetan
For a person to express his refusal to be motivated by fear in an angry fashion cast doubt in my mind that this person truly think it has what it takes to reach whatever goal it has set.
If the aftermath of one’s refusal to be motivated by fear is a counter-reaction to that refusal, his counter-reaction stems from fear just the same.
Fear has saved from doing dumb moves many times when I was living in the street and during my stay in jail.
Your story pits a domesticated feline against a street rat. Though tempting to identify with a street rat, I prefer to identify myself with a feline, one whose instincts are intact and would make a bite out of a rat but not to go after a rhino.
The beauty of writing is that one who formerly saw a rhino in something usually end up looking at a rat if he dares looking at the initial impression that rhino had on him.
Having in memory the impression the rhino had on me and how I came to see it as a rat, greatly help me projecting what others will see as a rhino when I know it’s a rat.