Excursions in the Mushroom Kingdom- Memoirs of a Young Plumber

 Throughout my brief but seemingly infinite life I have worn many faces. I have been a vehement vigilante and a low-caliber criminal, a witty warrior and a clever coward, a vile villain and a heterodox hero. But I started as a plumber.

            Not an average plumber, might I add, but Mario Mario of Brooklyn, New York and the Mushroom Kingdom. At the age of eight I first grasped the controller in my hands, bewildered and amazed by the 8-bit tale that unraveled before me. “Better than books!” I remember thinking to myself as I vanquished my first enemy. And perhaps it was better than books, for it has instilled in me values that no piece of literature could create. 

            Mario taught me curiosity. As my thumbs pitter-pattered away on the plastic apparatus, my mind opened wide. My reality was swiftly swept away and replaced with the world and characters of the Mushroom Kingdom. I found constant amusement in the many worlds that I encountered on my quest to save the nameless princess, and each new discovery made me yearn for more.  My mind hungered for information as I tore through each level, pleased by what I found along the way. This curiosity followed me back into my own reality, where I now sought information at an accelerated rate. The world was one big level just waiting to be discovered.

            Mario taught me dedication.  I never gave up or returned to his cozy apartment in Brooklyn just because “the princess was in another castle.” The thought of repeating the journey pushed me onward. I yearned to rescue the unseen princess whom I knew needed saving. I would gallantly stomp on a goomba, rush past the green koopas and… get eaten by a piranha plant; however, this did not deter me from trying again, over and over until I got it right. In my life, this persistence materialized everywhere, from my academics to my dramatics. If I ever failed to understand a math problem or hit that high G, I would continue to try until I succeeded, with thoughts of saving Princess Peach always in my mind.

             As strange as it is, I owe much of my success and morality to a fictional plumber from a faraway land. When the game is over and I enter the real world, I realize that I have no extra lives or re-do’s, but this fact will not discourage me in my search for the unseen princess.