Via a twitter convo, I found another article that spoke to me:
Duality of Ponies. It contains the observation that Equestria is not free of pain (though I would argue it seems freer of the slings-and-arrows of everyday life, and freer from the being-nibbled-to-death-by-ducks that occurs in everyday life). But that the real secret to it is that there is joy that allows you to power through the pain, and that joy is close enough to the surface, and friendship allows you to tap into that joy. Pull quote:
Joy - real joy - comes not from a life free from pain, but from our conquest of that pain. Pinkie Pie rose from a rock farm - gray and dull - and taught her entire family the joy of parties - the meaning of pink!
Yes, Pinkie, when at her best, is the most joyful pony ("Smile, Smile, Smile" is one of those things I listen to when I'm really down, to pull myself back up). But she does have moments of sadness or self doubt - one of the earlier episodes featured the other ponies all coming up with increasingly thin excuses as to why they couldn't attend Gummy's after-birthday party that Pinkie was planning, and so she begins to assume that it's that they don't love her, they are wanting to get rid of her from the friendship, they are pushing her out.
As someone who experienced perhaps more than her fair share of peer-rejection as a kid, and as someone who tends to "awfulize," that resonated with me. And Pinkie goes all crazy-sad and starts talking to turnips. (You kind of have to see the episode to understand).
As it turns out, it totally wasn't what she assumed: Pinkie, in her drive to make Gummy happy, had forgotten HER OWN birthday, and the reason the other ponies couldn't go to the party she was planning was that they were planning a surprise party for her.
And of course, when she learns that, all is forgiven (and her stick-straight, sad-crazy-Pinkie hairstyle poufs back up into the bouncy Pinkie-perm she usually has). And she's happy again.
Joy - real joy - comes not from a life free from pain, but from our conquest of that pain. Pinkie Pie rose from a rock farm - gray and dull - and taught her entire family the joy of parties - the meaning of pink!
And of course, to a Christian (as well, I suppose, to those of other faiths, but Christianity is my path), that phrase should mean something: joy is NOT a life free from pain.
One thing Chappy used to say on a regular basis, and I remember this, was that she counseled people NOT to think that becoming a Christian meant your life would be easy - there would be the same pain and hurt and injuries and illnesses that all humanity experiences. But the difference was you had hope and, yes, joy. That joy is the thing that allows you to overcome pain. We're drawing in close on Easter, which is both a reminder of great pain (Good Friday, which to us moderns seems ironically named) but also the great joy that follows three days later....
It's remarkable the lessons these silly little equines can bring to you if you listen to them.
1 comment:
Remember the first season, when each episode bore that E|I badge? No more. Yet the lessons to be learned are often stronger. Consider "Leap of Faith," in which Flim and Flam return with some snake oil that wasn't even made from real snakes. As a panelist at the Round Stable described AJ's dilemma: "Are your principles so important that they trump other ponies' happiness?" That's some heady stuff.
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