Even though I like Christmas, Christmas preparations have always been frustrating for me and make me nervous. Sometimes I feel like the Christmas season has nothing more to offer than haste, glittery decorations and food. Usually during this crazy time, whenever I get the chance, I escape the Christmas hustle and bustle, which, by the way, starts many days or weeks before. During my escape, I usually come back to two stories.

 One is called „Ex Oblivion”. The protagonist of Ex Oblivion is also fleeing from reality.  His dream feels so real. He even meets wise dream scholars who only exist in the dream world. He wants to follow them and open the gate they speak of. Then he sees a gate… – Maybe there is something there, something better than the triviality of our lives… he thinks. Unfortunately, he realises that beyond the gate lies nothing but the infinite void that is death. 

Scary?

So, maybe next time you have had enough of the triviality of party time, remember that there’s nothing beyond the gate…

But perhaps we are trapped in this world, a world of food and parties, like another protagonist I would like to introduce to you in this article. So meet Laura and her family on the day of the party („The Garden Party” – that’s the title of the story, by the way). After surveying the food in the kitchen, Laura and her family learn that their  neighbour Mr. Scott, has died just outside their gate. While Laura thinks the party should be cancelled, neither her brother nor her mother agree.

So why am I bringing this story up? Well, maybe just to highlight something more trivial than the Christmas rush… I want to show that death and life coexist. So when Laura and her family learn that death has occurred nearby, they return to reality. Yes, the show must go on! Nothing can take us out of the party, I mean, the Christmas season! But what better can we do? Nothing?!?

Nothing sounds boring. Or maybe it is? Would that be so bad? I’d rather be bored than sad or frustrated; there are much worse feelings than boredom. No!!! Not in this world! We even have these devices that banish boredom from our lives. Waiting 20 minutes at the dentist’s office? What do you do there? Nothing at all? No! You are looking at your phone.But I have a question: if you can not spend 20 minutes with yourself, why would anyone want to?