We’re all familiar with the alternate-reality PC game which made its debut in the early 2000’s. Whether the game’s icon is on your own taskbar, or you’ve seen the memes on Twitter, The Sims has mostly likely made an appearance in your life. Its look-a-like characters and 'motherlode' hack have touched the hearts and childhoods of many -- my siblings and myself being far from exceptions. And, while it has proven contemporary humor to poke fun at how “relatable” the expressions and reactions of the animated beings are, what if this virtual world was reality?
Now, for your appeasement, I will begin this contemplation with first recognizing how preposterous this possibility is. I agree: it's ludicrous and silly and impossible -- blah blah blah. Now it's your turn to humor me with granting me the floor to think these ludicrous thoughts.
How spectacular would it be to live the worry-free life of a Sim?
Being a Junior facing the smack-in-the-face reality of major decisions and college choices - which are fast approaching and only gaining more speed -- the idea of having my life planned out with the click of a mouse sounds awfully tempting... actually, make that really flippin' awesome. Rather than visiting campus after dormitory after website, and filling out stacks of applications -- only one of which, when it comes down to it, really ends of mattering -- by having one action for my Sim chosen, my future could be decided. I'd be left with only one campus, one application, one essay, one decision. Now that would be really flippin' awesome.
But, much like the promises of the many Nigerian Princes flooding my spam folder, it has to be too good to be true.
Not only would being a brainless, all-obedient zombified blob be pretty lame, the lack of freedom would far outweigh the benefit of only one college essay (though it's a close call). --- That leads to another question: is the college process so threatening, arduous, and depressing that I'd actually consider becoming a Sim before enduring it?
But that's a question for another day.
As a Sim, with freedom lost and choices pre-made, my sister, Rachel, brought up the concept of pride and satisfaction. If our choices are made for us, is there really any sense of accomplishment in completing them? Is there any individualistic pride to gain? No. While life challenges, similar to the college process, are painful and often feel interminable, they are so for good reason. Though some might deem it cliche to say that "difficult things build character," it's more than true. The decisions we make on our own accord and through our own freedom decide who we are as people. They grant us the pride and confidence to make more choices, and allow us to decide for ourselves who we want to be. One such choice is college. Though many complain about the American education system, few realize how blessed we are to have such a choice to make.
When considering the reality of being a Sim, my Catholic self pondered: "If I'm a Sim, then is God just sitting in some golden cubicle in Heaven, scrolling through a Dell PC screen, deciding in stone the future to be placed before me? Then, moving onto the next Sim to allow me to complete His plan?" Like the rhetorical question before, again, the answer is no. Though followers of God believe He has a plan for every man which He created, it's not like that of a Sims'. He didn't simply electronically spew out some litany of acts which, when accomplished, make up our pre-determined lives. He grants us the freedom to choose for ourselves. But He guides us. He gives us all the opportunities to make great and wondrous things of ourselves.
I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty tight.
Sure, life would be simpler if I were a Sim. But I think I'm content - nay, blessed, to be a human made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27), because I have the freedom to do things like write a billion college essays. So, when you start writing your essays, or overcoming whatever challenge faces you now, take a few seconds to do a spontaneous, not pre-determined act (like jumping up and down), and just thank God you're not a Sim.
