Breaking great

“I have spent my whole life scared, frightened of things that could happen, might happen, might not happen, 50-years I spent like that. Finding myself awake at three in the morning. But you know what? Ever since my diagnosis, I sleep just fine. What I came to realize is that fear, that’s the worst of it. That’s the real enemy. So, get up, get out in the real world and you kick that bastard as hard you can right in the teeth.” — Walter White

In the above lines, White is referring to his terminal disease and the impact it had on his otherwise insignificant life. Goes without saying that there’s some misguided optimism in his despair. He’s talking about that paralysis called fear. He was one of us. The good ol’ Joe who didn’t amount to much. Everyday, he struggled with the bills and his regrets. He thought he was a decent man but that was before he realised the power of money. And more importantly, the power of being powerful. It took him years to realize his true potential as a chemist. It’s only after the big C inflicted him that he had the time to turn his attention to the other big C in his life, leaving him with no choice but to come up with a meth lab. And that’s how cancer and chemistry got married and he ended up becoming the dreadfully manipulative Heisenberg. Good for him. Better for Vince Gilligan. Best for us.