First and foremost, a very belated yet still heartfelt happy holiday wish to all you readers out there, as well as a very prosperous and joyful new year!
I know part 3 is long overdue, but the holiday break was very busy (and surprisingly eventful) and I just didn't have time to write about the cake. Until now that is! Fasten your seat belt McFly, we're hittin' 88 mph.
I've been getting a lot of questions regarding part 3 of the Top Gun and Cake series; partly because I've focused (perhaps too much) on the Top Gun portion and never once mentioned the cake part, and mostly because everyone loves cake and the idea that cake can be transformed into a metaphor for life that is as both satisfying and delicious as its tangible counterpart. It started awhile back when I was having a conversation with a friend over a cup of mango tea. We started talking about life and how sometimes things never turn out the way people expect them to. It's amazing to see how much of an impact that unexpectedness has on a person's life, and in some drastic cases, their identity. The conversation turned to relationships and how people sometimes lose themselves when they merge emotionally, and more often than not, physically, with their significant other. That deep connection is great and all, don't get me wrong, but you have to wonder how much connection is too much? I've known a few couples in my day where one person's life becomes so involved and invested in the relationship that they couldn't function without the other. They ceased to be an individual.
People need to realize that their identity cannot and should not be solely rooted in a single entity - especially if that entity is another person. People are fleeting; they're bound to leave eventually, and if you're so invested in them and your whole life and identity revolves around that other person, when they are gone you will find yourself alone and without the slightest clue of who you are. It's frightening and maddening at the same time, and you find yourself longing for answers and for a single ray of clarity and purpose. What you need to realize is that those other entities, be it a person, a job, or some other obsession, that you once thought were the end-all-be-all-cream-of-the-crop are simply icing on the cake. Yup, you read that correctly. Icing never defines the type of cake on which it sits. You don't go to the store and say, "I'll have a chocolate icing please." No, you ask for the cake. Why? Because the most important part is the cake itself. I am the cake. You are the cake. We are what matters most. We are the foundation, the core body, a symphony of dynamic flavors and unique ingredients that somehow are able to harmonize together. I am the cake, and everyone else is just extra fluff. I'm not trying to sound conceited, but you can't define who you are by everyone else. Much like you cannot define a cake by it's icing. What's inside the cake is what defines what it is, how it looks, how it smells, and how it tastes. It is not the icing that gives the cake flavor, but the cake that gives the icing flavor. Icing is designed to emphasize the individual aspects and flavors of the cake, and compliment its essence. So many people get caught up with trying to be the icing; trying to compliment another's essence, that they forget that they are the cake. They forget that they are the cornerstone. And this goes beyond losing yourself in relationships with significant others, as it can apply to all relationships - work, friends, and family. But before you can find your cakehood in those relationships, you must find it in the most important relationship of all - the one you have with yourself.
I know this probably came off as too preachy, and I'm sure the Emo-Meter is off the charts, but this is the start of the new year. Now is the time to forge ahead and pave the way to a better you. A better me. A better us. Everyone loses themselves from time to time, but it's never too late for some cake. 2009 is our year to rise!
So stand tall my fellow cakes, and shout this anthem* with pride.
Do or die, You'll never make me. Because the world will never take my heart. Go and try, you'll never break me. We want it all, we want to play this part. I won't explain, or say I'm sorry. I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar. Give a cheer, for all the broken, listen here, because it's who we are. I'm just a cake; I'm not a hero, just a cake, I wanna sing this song! I'm just a cake; I'm not a hero. I DON'T CARE!
So if someone ever says to you, "You take the cake!" you can smile and know that you don't just simply take the cake, you are the cake.
* I've been listening to a lot of MCR lately. But it fits! Kinda...
