How It Should Have Ended

In case you've never run across it, let me draw your attention to the wonderful website called How It Should Have Ended, which features ... duh ... the endings that various movies should have had. Some of them are very clever (I particularly liked their ending of The Lord of the Rings).

But if you're not into video, perhaps you'd prefer to look at how fairy tales should have ended. You know, fairy tale ... as in, "Republicans really do care about you if you're not rich, healthy, and heavily armed," and "Ours is a peaceful and tolerant religion." You can recognize a fairy tale because most of them end with the standard line, "... and they lived happily ever after."

But did they, really?

Here are a few examples of how fairy tales end in the real world ...

"And they stayed together because of the kids."

"And she never learned her lesson never to eavesdrop on any of his phone conversations again."

"And he realized that money actually could buy happiness."

"And with all that alimony, she finally bought the castle she’d always dreamed of."

"And he never found out out the child wasn’t his."

"And eventually, she came to terms with the fact that she was probably going to have to save herself."

"And they lived happily ever … until the following winter."

"And she never had any idea that he was actually gay."

"And eventually she came to realize that her stepmother wasn’t evil - just demanding."

"And she sometimes wondered whether a kiss that reanimated her from the dead was really grounds for a lifelong romance."

"And the three of them lived happily ever after."

I think these are more accurate than the original endings, but I probably won't use them when I read the stories to my grandchildren. The amount of time our children have to enjoy happy endings is short enough ... let them enjoy it while it lasts.

Have a good day. If you can't live happily ever after, at least try to live grudgingly ever after.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo