Bus Ride
M A Davis/Miko
(an allegorical tale of the FFML)
It was a long and winding road that they travelled down, and the bus was crowded. The traveller sat, huddled in one corner, staring into his laptop as he listened to the conversations around him.
There were quite a few arguments and inane conversations going on. Occasionally the bus driver would have to tell people to quiet down, that they were disturbing the other riders. But, in between those inane conversations, there were some fascinating stories being told. The traveller found it easy to shut out the useless chatter and listen to what he really wanted to hear. Occasionally, he felt bold enough to tell a story of his own.
And, as each inane conversation popped up, the traveller reached out and tapped the delete key on his laptop. He didn't even pause to listen to more than the first line of conversation. There were too many stories to hear, and not enough time to hear them all... why waste time listening to an argument?
A man, who looked quite lost, sat down next to him. He began a rambling monologue about the horrible conditions of the bus, and of the road they were on. Finally, he ended by saying, "Why do I even bother?"
The traveller frowned. "I'm sorry, sir, but didn't you just say that a storyteller crafts a story for his own enjoyment and betterment... for the joy it brings them?"
The lost man nodded. "It's true. You tell stories for your own pleasure, not because you're required to."
"And yet, if you don't get positive feedback from your listeners, you wonder why you even bothered. Funny, that."
The stranger shrugged. He stared down at the mud-filled ruts in the road.
"This used to be a golden road," the lost man said. "Now it's just shit."
"I hear that a lot," the traveller said. "Funny that it doesn't seem that way to me."
"You're not looking down," the lost man said.
"You got that right," the traveller replied. He reached out to his laptop and hit the delete key one more time....
FINI
Notes:
I debated putting this on my web page, because it was really a response to a specific situation and a specific post on the FFML (Fan Fiction Mailing List). But all of my other stories are here, so why not this one, too?
This is not a fan fiction story, it is an allegorical tale about reading stories and comments posted to the FFML, and posting stories and comments to the list. It was brought on by a post from someone who shall remain nameless. In their post, they claimed that there had been a golden age when the FFML was a wonderful place to post stories and recieve helpful commentary from other authors, but that now, things had degenerated so much that the FFML was nothing but shit.
Now, these sort of comments crop up in many other walks of life, not just on the FFML. It's common for people who have been around something a long time to reminisce about the good old days, when things were better, and to complain about the current state of things. However, it's my experience that the good old days were never as good as people remember, and the present is never as horrible as people want to think. Specifically, I enjoy being on the Fan Fiction Mailing List, so I know it hasn't descended into some horrible, worthless morass. I'm also pretty certain that there was never any FFML golden age when people were civil and everything was perfect -- and several people who've been around since the begining have flat-out said so, even going so far as to say things used to be worse.
And thus, my story. ^_^