The world is filled with clichés and I'm no different. At this point, it's a near impossibility not to be a little. There's a reason clichés come about, the common repetition of themes and sometimes those themes come as incredibly likely occurrences. Clichés keep popping up in our lives not just because they're overused and predictable, but also because they have a clever technique for covering the odds. First, they start by targeting the most frequent of situations, the new love, the broken heart, new life or death. The combination of strong emotions and common emotional states is potent, but you'll notice too that they intentionally cover the spread: brand new lovers who're lost in each other completely,we've got a cliché for that. Just lost someone you cared deeply for to death or heartbreak, we've got clichés for both of those too. It's downright diabolical.
There is a catch. There's the roulette wheel's double zero that can't be covered under all of this. There are unique situations or unlikely events, those times in our lives where we may discover something new or approach a place that we hadn't been before. What comes after infatuation but before heartbreak? Is there ever a new character from Hollywood that doesn't show up unreasonably early or noticeably late? Seriously, I know punctuality is a challenge but there are middle grounds.
So as I write, I think about all of this. Yeah, I can't avoid all the clichés out there. There are simply too many covering too much. I can, however, notice little ways that I do stand out from the standard. A cliché became the way it is due to overuse and standardization, so perhaps breaking that mold will help. When I express, in words, the beauty of a girl that draws my eye, I am certain I could visit all those normal expressions that serve to establish the female aesthetic in our zeitgeist, but she isn't a perfect match to all of that. She isn't perfect. She's doesn't have the longest flowing hair that reaches just above her tailbone, flying flawlessly in fervent breeze as each strand cascades along with others in some mural-esque artistic depiction. Nor does she have some flawless wit, she stumbles over words at times and while she is capable of exuding grace, it is absolutely not her default position. She may not have the qualities of those delightful metaphors: she's not as brave as a lion; she has more facets than a diamond, in the rough or otherwise;and I have no notion of how fit a fiddle is, but that seems ill-fitting too.
What she is, however, is unique. She isn't a cliché. So as I search for new ways to impart the beauty I see, or the way in which I can convey her perfect imperfections, I am attempting to start with a new approach. Perhaps this is me being my own cliché, or perhaps this is the beginning of something new.
Time will tell.
