Why I Hate Analogies

Growing up in a Christian household, I've basically been in Sunday School/youth group all my life. During those years, I have heard a lot of analogies. I'm sure other people have experienced this too. You'll be listening to a sermon or a talk or something and the speaker is explaining a phenomenon or a feeling and they stay "It's kinda like when..." fill in the blank. This isn't limited to Christian speakers either. Everyone has probably done this. Heck, I've done this. (See post entitled "Life is like A Giant Swing." Also "Early Morning Hours.")But they make me mad. Let me explain.

Analogies make me mad because they simplify life. Which is what they're intended to do. Analogies are used as a rhetorical device to make complicated ideas easier to understand. (Look at me using big words. In summer no less. *pats self on the back*) So I guess I'm not *technically* against analogies altogether. Like, if they're used in science class to get me to understand stoichiometry, I'm all for it. (Google says I'm spelling stoichiometry wrong and their only suggestion is psychometric. What.)

Really, the issue I have is when they're used in relation to life. Kinda like what I did with the giant swing thing. Okay fine. Sue me. But the reason they bother me is that they make life sound so easy and straight-forward when it really never is. And that just bugs me. So, for instance, with my giant swing analogy I said

"...when you're about to do something scary or potentially life changing, it's so easy to want to quit. But you have to do it yourself. You have to make the choice to let go of that purple fabric. Because clutching it for dear life gets you nowhere and you can't just sit on your butt and wait for someone else to do it."

Like, okay Lisa, thanks for sharing, go run along and play now. But letting go of a strip of fabric holding you in the air is astronomically easier than, for instance, making the decision to take someone off life support. Maybe that was a little dramatic but do you get my point? How about this: getting to the point of allowing yourself to swing freely through the air is hard, but it's WAYYYYYYYY easier than deciding what college to go to. And it's a lot easier to let go of a strip of fabric than it is to consider colleges other than the one you'd been planning to go to since you were ten. (Not speaking from personal experience or anything. Nope.)

I saw a quote on Pinterest today that I think will help explain some of what I'm trying to say, too. "An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means it's going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming." Kay great, thanks. But when you're knee deep in debt and you have small children running amuck around the house and the bills are due and you just found out that your basement is flooded, that quote isn't exactly going to make you feel better. (I'm actually not speaking from personal experience now, don't worry.) Or even when you just feel far from God and nothing you do seems to help, you're not going to go, "oh the arrow of life is just getting ready to launch me into the air. I'll be fine." And if you do... well... okay.

And plus, arrows are usually shot at, like, a target, and personally I don't want my head smacking into target no matter how close to the bulls-eye it is.

Stay cool,
Lisa