Want Drama? Press Here

saw this ad today in programming and about coughed up a lung from laughing so hard! this is a brilliant idea for an advertisement and already has some 22,000,000 hits in less than 5 days. we live in a strange world, but i'm glad for these little video bites which bring a smile to my face.

this quiet little belgian town is the perfect setting because it actually harkens a time when most towns were kinda similar--mostly drama free. nowadays our communities are more like the dramas on television then the quiet of a countryside town square. granted our towns don't usually see public fist fights, gun battles, scantily clad women riding bicycles, and dead men being carried away by football players. but, actually, come to think of it, we're not that far off.

the brilliance of this little viral darling is only partly that it makes your sides hurt from laughter. because in it's attempt to be totally outlandish-- unintentionally this video also tells the truth about how chaotic our world has become. somewhere along the way we've gotten used to the images of violence, lewdness, negligence, absurdity and death. it's everywhere. we see the affects of drama everyday, and most of us don't want more of it...we want less. we want life to slow down, we want life to be safer, quieter, more recreational and communal--like this little belgian town.

speaking for myself, the greatest irony is that though i want less drama in my life, i always find a way to hit that darn red button somehow. sure, the drama i cause does not always stir up paramedics, mob bosses and a murder scene, but i've definitely powered up and said awful things that left people wounded. in fact, i'd go a step farther to say the red button isn't even 'out there', it's somewhere lurking inside me always a press away from stirring up all kinds of drama as only anger, pride, greed, jealousy etc. can do. the daily training of my life has been learning how to scramble the wire to my red button, so that it is permanently "out-of-service".

simple thought: what i really need is a "peace-button," something that brings me back to the quiet life. i really don't need more drama. laughter? yes. drama? no.