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OneWord: Complicated
Nov. 24th, 2014 10:41 am"It's complicated."
Jim used the statement in the same fashion as everyone else. A question would be asked and either unwilling or unable to answer it, he'd drop this particular phrase. All conversation on the topic would cease, boundaries clearly laid.
He preferred to avoid complicated situations and relationships. One night stands were easy, straightforward events to explain. The emotions involved were simple and fleeting. When he walked away in the morning, the chances the interlude would impact his overall life were next to nonexistent. He was lucky if he could remember their names only a week later. The behavior had earned him a reputation, one he was happy to reinforce. People didn't expect much from Jim Kirk and he was fine with that.
Then Christopher Pike sat down across from him and dared him to do better. No one had ever done that before. Unlike with so many other things in his life, he began to seriously think it over. What was he doing and where was he going? He didn't like the answers. He sure as hell didn't want to stay in Iowa for the rest of his life. As it had been suggested, he found himself wanting more. Something meaningful. Something challenging. He wanted a task that would make him rise to the occasion, not fall down to the level of popular expectation.
"I'll do it in three," he declared, that cocky smile on his face.
The years at the academy and the missions that followed taught him another valuable lesson. The relationships worth keeping required work and time. They didn't start one night and end the next morning. They did impact his life, every second of every day, and involved an emotional connection and investment.
Somewhere along the way he stopped thinking of them as complicated and settled on complex. They were even less easy to explain but they were far more satisfying.
Jim used the statement in the same fashion as everyone else. A question would be asked and either unwilling or unable to answer it, he'd drop this particular phrase. All conversation on the topic would cease, boundaries clearly laid.
He preferred to avoid complicated situations and relationships. One night stands were easy, straightforward events to explain. The emotions involved were simple and fleeting. When he walked away in the morning, the chances the interlude would impact his overall life were next to nonexistent. He was lucky if he could remember their names only a week later. The behavior had earned him a reputation, one he was happy to reinforce. People didn't expect much from Jim Kirk and he was fine with that.
Then Christopher Pike sat down across from him and dared him to do better. No one had ever done that before. Unlike with so many other things in his life, he began to seriously think it over. What was he doing and where was he going? He didn't like the answers. He sure as hell didn't want to stay in Iowa for the rest of his life. As it had been suggested, he found himself wanting more. Something meaningful. Something challenging. He wanted a task that would make him rise to the occasion, not fall down to the level of popular expectation.
"I'll do it in three," he declared, that cocky smile on his face.
The years at the academy and the missions that followed taught him another valuable lesson. The relationships worth keeping required work and time. They didn't start one night and end the next morning. They did impact his life, every second of every day, and involved an emotional connection and investment.
Somewhere along the way he stopped thinking of them as complicated and settled on complex. They were even less easy to explain but they were far more satisfying.
