The Thrill of the Chase

The thrill of the chase doesn’t apply to those who don’t engage in much chasing.  In the rare moment when a chase can occur, the focus is on obtaining the rabbit or bunny or whatever objective is required and desired.  Only in times of nostalgia or lonely moments of fading glory will the chase be rightfully respected and revered.  But for now there is nothing to do but sit down and contemplate what went wrong or what is to go wrong next.  When presented with a series of failures, or the more polite term of “near makes”, the conquistador‘s mind enters a perpetual mode of self-pity and woe is me.  In short, that rain cloud just won’t go away.  To the conquistador, the only way to vanquish this rather pesky rain cloud is by a moment of sheer chance, or sheer destiny, or a perplexingly sheer mix of the two elements (how they merge together is anybody’s guess). 

But whatever the reason the rain cloud, for the moment, has dissipated and the thrill of the chase garners momentum.  Old patterns re-emerge in the conquistador while long dormant feelings resurface.  The chase is on and the buildup is slow.  Some would say painfully slow.  Others, a more patient and wiser group I may add, would simply settle for slow and be done with the matter completely.  They would focus on the task at hand rather than surveying the differences in speed.  

We return to find the buildup palpable and the ego expanding too far for its own good.  The word to focus on is unbearable and if the conquistador can acknowledge the relevance of that word to the situation at hand, than the thrill of the chase has not taken its proper hold.  When the word garners the aura of irrelevance the chase is on in full swing and cannot and, most importantly, must not be stopped until it has reached the proper conclusion of inevitable disappointment or surprising usurping of victory.  The first result leads to the continued renewal of the events previously described.  The latter result leads to an even bigger swelling of the ego and a delayed return to the events previously described.  In conclusion, you just can’t win sometimes.