Making The Cut

We all edit our lives in some way.
And what we allow to be seen in public depends entirely on which Directors cut we want to be screened on any given day.
Is today's blockbuster feature an action film? Dozens of bad guys cut through in a hail of bullets issued forth by just the raising of an octave?
"You want me to wait HOW LONG for my home delivered Pizza you lying piece of scum?"
Or is it a bubbly Rom-Com replete with witty repartee and floppy hair?
"Oh, Charles, you rascal. When you said lets go Dutch, this WASN'T what I had in mind"
Perhaps today's home edited flick is a slapstick comedy staring your landlord, a guy from the taxation office and a Prairie Dog. Prairie Dogs make even the worst days seem like a comedy.
Which brings me to the point......finally.......that all of this editing takes time and effort. Especially the effort part.
I have a friend whose life is so carefully crafted for his adoring public that if he turned his life into modern sculpture it would resemble some kind of large, smooth, shiny,white obelisk. Not a single spike in sight. No rivets, or badly fitting seals. No bumps, or hard edges, or broken bits held on with superglue. Just light, tight and bright white chocolate mousse floating on a cloud of perfumed sunshine.
His therapist of 15 years agrees. No one EVER had a life that charmed. NO ONE. EVER.
And that's my second point.
Life, even other peoples lives, has lumps.
Soft ones that look good on screen, pastels and beanbags.
Small hard ones that feel like a stone in your shoe. Wrinkle makers. Not too bad from a distance, rough on the close up.
Big, fat ugly misshapen ones, that look like carcinoma, smell slightly sour, and are hard to light.
Those are the ones we crop out most often.
Hours of cropping and honing. Hours of re-editing sound and lights and even actors.
Re- auditioning the roles of the lesser players.
Re invention of term-making a career shift/out of a job-taking a break/out of a relationship-taking a personal day/out of your mind.
It's not criticism. I do it, the editing. We all do. And we don't just make edits to the surroundings, we do it to ourselves as well.
Billy Joel calls them 'the faces of the stranger and we love to try them on'. And he's right.
The 'masks', the 'smoke and mirrors', the 'make-up'.
They can be useful, but it's worth remembering that the life you live, the REAL life is trying to tell you things.Important things like 'Why you shouldn't drink and Drive' and 'Why after a certain age, mini skirts look trashy'.
Stuff like that.
So the next time you take a pair of mental snippers to your 'REEL OF LIFE' story, ask yourself this.
Is it a better film with the bloopers left in?
And is there a place where a well placed Prairie Dog might be appropriate?