Words Of a Feather

Why do we love video games?

Because of the challenging levels?

Because of the unique characters?

Because of the lore or the bosses?

Or is it because of death?

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Death is as expensive as air

As valuable as a single strand of hair

Death comes to mock us every day and night

Pinning us down one by one until

Everyone’s time will be done

But not the deity of Death in video games

Your life is not made of one heart but now three or five

Fatality so painless, you hurt yourself more with a paper cut

Video game characters have multiple lives, but only one life

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They only have the same routine over and over

Trapped in an eternal curse

(Or at least until you throw away the game)

Video game characters have multiple copies that are identical

Several games made with several characters living the same lives

Until you’re stuck with the same people in the same world

They will keep running on the same data until you grow bored

Casting them aside, leaving their lives to be thrown away

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For our lives, we are not faced with that luxury

We wake up unknowing of what may become of us

Whether or not we will sleep at the end of the day knowing we lived well

Our lives are so different, and yet, the same

We all understand one another, but never fully

We each are blessed with the gift of Sonder to live individually

Our lives are all equal, some less than others

Left in the dark to face the consequences of other peoples’ actions

Every mistake, every crack, every wound

We know we don’t have extra lives or power ups, yet some of us don’t care

Some of us want our “game over” sooner than others

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The simplicity and predictability of video games is what makes them a curse

When you have the opposite with our lives, we are yet to be blessed

We grow tired of how unusual and unpredictable our lives are

Sane one moment and insane the next

A soon-to-end cycle of strife, misery, grief, and despair

No extra lives to continue the pain

In the world of 2D, “game over” means “better luck next time”

In the world of 3D, “game over” means game over

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There is, however, a single reason for “game over” to come later than sooner

After game over, you have a chance to make things better

No matter how many times the game will screw you over, you will find solace

Our “game over” is not another chance, it means it’s over

You do not escape the pain, you finish your life on a sour note

You never finish the game properly

Our lives are far more complex and unique than that

Too extraordinary to leave incomplete

Leaving a game without finishing or retrying, you can find the answer

You can find the happy ending or moments of bliss

But not in our world

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I’m not telling you there are so many things in your life worth living for

I’m telling you the things in your life aren’t worth dying for