Life Is A Cartoon

If you're a child of the 80s or early 90s like I was, the pictures above may serve to rekindle some fuzzy memories. Ah yes, those were the days when everyone wanted to become a cat superhero in tights or glamourous lead singer with the flick of an earring.

Some time back, I was bored in office and decided to search up these classic 'toons in Wikipedia. It's a highly recommended experience. There's just something special about reading these kiddy stuff from a bygone era in the factual confines of Wikipedia.

Take for instance:
ThunderCats follows the adventures of the eponymous team of heroes, cat-like humanoid aliens from the planet of Thundera. The series pilot begins with the dying Thundera meeting its end, forcing the ThunderCats (a sort of Thunderean nobility) to flee their homeworld. The fleet is attacked by the Thundereans's enemies, the Mutants of Plun-Darr, who destroy all the starships in the "ThunderFleet," but spare the flagship hoping to capture the legendary mystic Sword of Omens they believe is onboard. The sword holds the Eye of Thundera, the source of the ThunderCats' power, which is embedded in the hilt.

Or how about:
The central "secret" of the series is that Jem is in fact the alter ego of Jerrica Benton, owner/manager of Starlight Music, who adopts this persona with the help of Synergy, a holographic computer designed to be the ultimate visual entertainment synthesizer (built by her father, Emmett Benton, who left it to her on his death), to acquire more money to not only support Jerrica's own company, Starlight Music, but to also support the Starlight Foundation for Girls, a foster program founded by Jacque Benton, the mother of Jerrica and Kimber Benton.

Wow. It seemed much simpler when I was watching back then.

When we were kids watching cartoons, all we cared about who the good guys and bad guys were. Eventually the good guys would surely win. But we didn't know that.

Often, we didn't even know the names of the characters, why they were fighting or what they were talking about. All that mattered in those 30 minutes was who would win in the end. And the pretty colours!

In fact, if you re-watch these old cartoons now, you'll probably spot loads of plot details that make you go, "Ohhh...now I get it."

Doesn't life sometimes seem like a cartoon too?

When you're young, you do many things without knowing why you do them. Because they just feel right. Along the way, you may cut some corners, hurt some people or make some mistakes. And before you even realise it - bang, you're old. One day you just pause and look back at the things your younger self did.

You start, "Oh my, how could I even have thought of saying that?" "What on earth possessed me to do that?" Just as you're about to brush them off as the follies of childhood - click - it all magically makes sense.

Every friend you made. Every love you had. Every deed you performed. Every cause you championed. Every decision you made. They all happened for a reason that was beyond you at that time. You didn't know how or why, but life has a way of pulling us without strings. All you need to do is sink yourself into the present.

Like my animated friends taught me so many years ago, sometimes we need to think less and feel more. It'll all fall into place in the end.