I am Wall-E facing the Plasma Cannon.
The Engineer & The Storyteller
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Read Time: 5 minutes
“In a few words, describe what love means to you.”
I don’t know would’ve been a better answer than what I gave.
Growing up I knew how to navigate love and relationships. Stories in books, movies and watching others life were my teachers. Each piece shaping me like clay as I noted what I saw.
I was being too much of a storyteller.
I hated the grand gestures of standing outside your crush’s house holding a boombox to declare your love. I prefer the subtle method of demonstrating love like waiting on someone while everyone else has left. The quiet, poignant reminder there’s someone in your corner.
And that’s what I want in my life.
“This isn’t who you are” shouted my brain one last time.
My heart clawed up my throat trying to capture the words before they escaped my mouth. My brain sounded the alarms firing every neuron to restrain my muscles from moving.
We were walking back to our cars on a crisp Midwest winter night. Am I really going to ask her out? The thought made my palms clammy and my sewed my mouth shut again.
I was being too much of an engineer.
Too diagnostic and clinical. I was thinking too much and filtering a current of emotions through a steel canal to be processed and put to use.
Every step toward building a life with another person was met with a flood of data citing failures.
The first girl I asked out in high school said no, but then was out sick the next two days (I’m sure it’s not connected, but still funny to think about). The next time I asked a girl out she laughed. And the third girl I asked out turned into Jello from politely saying “no”.
Why would this time be different?
I am Wall-E facing the plasma cannon.
I see them as two halves of my mind: Eve being the engineer and Wall-E being the storyteller.
Wall-E is the cowering, timid. optimistic robot. Eve is the dominant practical force with one directive: To find signs of life on Earth.
Eve scans debris looking for something tangible and reproducible like an engineer studying data. Wall-E is searching for life but purely on faith and wonder. He’s watching Eve and getting to know her, unsure on how this will end up. Wall-E looks through wonder-filled lenses while Eve’s laser focused drive pushes her to find signs of life.
It’s no coincidence Wall-E is the one who finds a plant— a sign of a habitable planet— through wonder rather than Eve’s analytical method.
Life is more fun seeing through Wall-E’s wonder-filled lenses, but it’s Eve’s drive for her directive which forces Wall-E to be proactive.
What bridges Eve’s practicality and Wall-E’s wonder was curiosity.
Wall-E was curious about Eve and stayed with her even though she ignored him.
His curiosity helped him understand Eve’s directive to find signs of life. Once he does, he sets aside his desires and helps her with her goal. He goes to space with her and gets the plant to the humans.
For Eve, Wall-E’s curiosity was a nuisance. Wall-E wanted to dance in the stars or talk with other robots. Everything was on obstacle to Eve’s goal. She didn’t see the purpose of wonder and optimism until Wall-E’s curiosity showed her.
Soon after watching Wall-E, I saw it through the lens of my own struggle.
It’s not about keeping the practical engineering side away from the wonder-struck storyteller but finding a synthesis.
“In a few words, describe what love means to you.”
Love is a story connected by curiosity.
And you can’t reverse engineer a story by watching it happen. Even taking the same storytelling ingredients, authors would write different stories. Take Harry Potter & Star Wars.
Using the same story structure, they arrive at different results. What cause it? The authors who wrote it.
I can’t watch others in love and expect to recreate it.
Love isn’t an experiment waiting to be reproduced for validity.
Love is a story connected by curiosity which begins with a leap of faith.
Shout out to the writers for helping me with this draft:
Really dig where you took this idea from our conversation in such a short time. It hooked me from start to finish!