The Drama of the Ad.

I love commercials, little thirty or sixty second programs, peering into the lives of complete strangers. You watch a person tackle the difficulties of allergies, hypertension, elevated cholesterol and other medical problems that are uncomfortable to discuss. Or, the humiliating trauma of water spots dragging the reputation of an otherwise untainted housewife through the mud. Oh, the shame.

It is tension, conflict and resolution. All in the time it takes to say "don't fast forward, I'm watching that!" 

There was a guy who suffered from a higher risk of stroke from AFib, a certain type of irregular heart beat not caused by a heart defect. But, he was saved by a drug that doesn't have dietary restrictions, or require routine blood monitoring. Oh, the joy, released from the tyranny of routine.

He drove his old, well loved pick up truck right past the turn to the laboratory and ended up with his wife in New Zealand. It just brought a smile to my face. Of course, he did not drive his pickup truck to New Zealand, probably not, anyway. 

But, it ended there, and we don't know what happened.  Did they have fun, did they make it back? What happened? I need to know, I am invested in this couple and they may be stuck rotting in a New Zealand prison. Possibly he was consumed by one of the numerous, distasteful side effects. He just disappeared.

I had an emotional attachment to this poor, long suffering man. One day he was saddled with dietary
restrictions and routine blood monitoring, the next, thanks to modern pharmaceutical alchemy he was traipsing through a foreign land living the good life, until... I don't know what.

Recently my wife, who hates commercials, discovered the joys of pausing, rewinding and fast forwarding through live television. I never get to see commercials. She just whizzes past them in callous disregard for all the hard work involved.

I don't know what happened to the people in New Zealand, and I am missing the drama of life. Thousands of little stories are being told, complete with legal warnings every day, and I am missing them. Curse you technology.