An Unwanted Story Told

So… Something really weird happened to me recently. I turned on my laptop to try and find some entertainment, when all of a sudden a pop-up screen appeared (one of those that go full-screen and you can’t exit). The screen flickered and dimmed until it was just a black screen, and for a moment, all I could see was my reflection. Soon after, the screen flickered again and I was then forced to watch a peculiar tale unfold.

I saw a man, as average as any; nothing particularly different about him. I did notice though that he seemed to have a bad foot. He walked with some difficulty, unable to quite find his balance. Standing was a challenge, walking was difficult, and running or jumping was near impossible. This man went around looking for remedies to his plight, and he was well received by those who claimed to have just what he was looking for!

I remember in one of the scenes, he met this wise-looking man who gave him an apparently age-old ointment to rub on his foot. To his surprise (and mine) his foot was feeling better almost immediately! The swelling had gone down, and he was out and about in no time, running… and jumping… and walking… and limping again, for just as quickly as the ointment eased the pain, its effect wore off. The man used every last drop of it, craving the temporary relief, but with decreasing effectiveness. By the time he got to his last use, it didn’t even numb the pain, but still he applied the ointment out of habit.

Another incident that stood out to me was the one with the hipster down the road where he lived who was “in” with the latest trends. He suggested that the man get these cool looking shoes that not only would help with his mobility issues, but were also fashionable! Of course, the man went on to read all the promising reviews online from people with similar issues, and decided to get himself a pair, expensive though they were; afterall, it wasn’t a big deal to spend the money if it meant he would finally find relief.
He got so many compliments when he took his new footwear out for a spin, and though they were a little uncomfortable, he figured that it was probably the revolutionary so-called ‘medidynamics’ he had heard about advertised at work. Sadly though, after a week of wear, he noticed that not only was his bad foot getting worse, but his one good foot had started to grow numb also!

(At this point I was quite frustrated with those silly reviewers who seemed to have lied, as these shoes obviously don’t work!)

The poor man, despairing, threw the shoes away, put on his padded slippers and decided to take a walk to the park. After a while of sitting on a nearby bench, he was joined by an annoying acquaintance of his (I figured he was annoying because of the way the man reacted as soon as he sat down).
“How has it gone?” the person asked.
“Horrible!” he replied. “I have tried everything, and not only am I still physically broken, but now I am emotionally bankrupt. I can’t take much more of this pain,” he said, tears welling up in his eyes.
“I’m sorry to hear that, friend,” the person said sympathetically with a hand on his shoulder. “But you know, you haven’t tried everything…”
“Not this again!” the man blurted, his voice breaking from grief. “I told you, I am not getting my foot amputated! It is easy for you to suggest such an extreme solution, when you are whole.”
“I don’t mean any offence. I do not know what you are going through, nor how your life would be after the operation, but you said it yourself: even your doctor suggested it as the best course of action. Also–”
“Bah,” the man interrupted angrily. “Doctor my foot! What does he know!”
The person shook his head in pity, discerning that the man was not in a receptive mood. “Well, it is your decision.”
The person got up from the bench and was about to leave. “By the way, friend, I do not know exactly what you are going through,” he said, using his left hand to pull up his right jacket arm to reveal the stub where his right hand should be, “but I do have SOME idea. And from experience, I believe it is better to get rid of the source of your grief than to spend the rest of your life in misery, clinging to the object of your own suffering.”

The man was dumbfounded by what he had just seen. He had no idea of what this person had gone through, yet presumed to know him and all the issues he was dealing with. He hung his head in shame as the person walked away.

I was curious as to how this tale I was forced to watch would eventually end, but just then, the pop-up that held my screen captive was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and all I could see now was the ‘Popular on Netflix’ selection I had scrolled to on my laptop before my screen went black. I paused for a while trying to process what I had just seen. What did it all mean? What happened to that man? What kind of silly and idle person would go through all the trouble to take the time to create such an annoying and aimless pop-up, and worse yet, to not even bother to show how it all ends?

There was no point wasting time trying to figure out the answers to these questions, so I put those thoughts aside and clicked on a new TV series to watch. As the opening scenes began, I started to feel a weird itch on my foot.

(To read the continuation of this post, click here)