The Gods Fell... But We Could Be Heroes.

To varying degrees gamers are all still children. I don't care if you feel offended by that, it's true...

You play games of let's pretend, with little lead dollies. You imagine you are so much more than you really are, and you do it in an imagined world where history does not have to repeat itself or indeed even resemble the world we are all born into.

You find the hobby, you find game stores and then you have taken the gateway drug. You find music which speaks to you, books which enthral you and throw more imaginary wood on the fantastical fire.

Unless you are one of those poor unfortunates who are mere journeyman gamers, you live in something of a bubble, privy to a secret world which exists invisibly directly parallel to your own.

Then perhaps a game store closes, or a company goes bust, and your world becomes a little smaller, a little less substantial. Then, in time the musicians and actors with whom you identify, fade into the West. In many instances these idols will have been older than you, perhaps by a generation but you never really acknowledged it because they were part of your world, part of you... And you're gonna live forever, right?

Alas, the reality is that like it or not, nobody gets a saving throw in the mundane world.

The last two weeks have seen two idols of my generation, die, too soon, and I have felt as though childhood is ending.

I am speaking of course Lemmy and now David Bowie. 

They occupied opposite ends of the spectrum musically and sartorially, but they both inspired those of us of a certain age, to do things our own way and damn whatever society thought. 

In their own musical genres they were gods amongst lesser deities. They wove stories, guided the lost, callow youth who were drawn to them to be able to stand tall and join them in imaginary worlds where bullies, parents, grades and all the shit which binds the human soul means nothing.

I have reflected on their passing and it has made me realise that I have probably a couple of decades left myself. All the things that I have imagined, the people I've known, gamed, laughed and sometimes cried with, will be forgotten as will I. 

If only we could capture those moments, the feelings, the sights, sounds and scents for posterity...

But we cannot. 

What we can do, is live life how we want to rather than how others dictate. They will meet the same fate as us, so why the hell should we limit who we are, what we believe to make them feel more secure?

I for one have lived a full life by most standards, but it's not enough. I am greedy for more. I never tire of my life and the experiences it offers.

Take your dice, your toy soldiers,your cardboard counters and get out there and game the hell out the world. Every day that you see the sky, or the smile of someone you love. Every day that you get up the nose of an enemy... It's another day you have beaten the odds, made that saving throw. 

Get out there and live your life fantastic before mundanity draws you back to it's bosom and final oblivion.

Remember, as Lemmy said, 'The secret to a long life is not dying.'


Live the dream.



TTFN



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