Scrat: Symbol of my frustration.

Recently Karen came home from shopping and said something about the the squirrel-rat, Scrat, from the "Ice Age" movies. She said that he represents our lives/frustration with finding a job. With Scrat on TV for the upcoming Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie I have been finding more and more reasons to sympathize with the terminally thwarted rodent.

In a recent commercial for McDonalds I watched as Scrat held his beloved Acorn (job) in his arms and saw a happy meal. He dropped his Acorn to reach for the Happy Meal and is promptly squished by a dinosaur. While Scrat is climbing out of the footprint a young squirrel-rat girl comes and takes his Acorn (job) and he is again squished by a boulder. This is how I feel. I feel like everytime I have that Acorn in my sights and can almost savor the taste of the nutty insides I get squished an a young woman takes off with my Acorn.

The persuit is comical at times. Still, when we watch Scrat, we can't help but wish him the best and hope that he gets his beloved Acorn. In fact when Scrat dies in the Ice Age 2 and is taken to heaven where Acorns grow on trees (I know all Acorns grow on trees...just work with me here) we can't help but hope that he reaches the Great Golden Acorn in the sky. All his hopes and dreams wrapped up in fluffy clouds and lady squirrel-rats to adore only to have his dismal life returned to him by a well meaning but imbisilic Sid the Sloth. I can't really expand my metaphor into this particular scene but I can tell you that it seems like my life is just as comical and that my pursuit of happiness is thwarted just like Scrat. The Dinosaur, Sloth, Rock, Girl, Piranas all seem to be in the way of my reward. I have not seen the most recent installment of Ice Age but I sincerely hope that Scrat is rewarded with all the Acorns he can eat for two lifetimes and maybe even a girl squirrel-rat to share them with.