I did not like to overanalyze literature / works of art when I have been studying in highschool. However, with time, I’ve come to perceive all the possible meanings (even if the author of the work did not mean it), as the greatest personal gift to the reader / viewer / listener. Having that in mind, while watching “Adventure Time” series some time ago, this particular fragment got my attention:

The monologue goes like:

• This cosmic dance of bursting decadence and withheld permissions
• twists all our arms collectively,
• but if sweetness can win, and it can,
• then I’ll still be here tomorrow,
• to high five you yesterday my friend. Peace

This particular fragment speaks to me in an interesting way. My interpretation is the following:

• This cosmic dance of bursting decadence and withheld permissions – our life (cosmic dance), can be viewed as our walk from birth to death (thus, bursting decadence). At the same time, withheld permission are constraints that are put on us by the society and ourselves. While some of those constraints are necessary, often they are artificial and limiting in their essence.
• This feeling of decadence and social constraints twists all our arms collectively, thus limiting human beings, trying to tie them down (someone is affected more, someone is affected less, but noone is spared); The good example of it would be a 9 to 6 office job for a man who dreams of becoming a painter and realizing, that he’s wasting his precious time on something he does not enjoy at all.
• but if sweetness can win, and it can – but if our own drive can help us to overcome the struggles (Following the previous example: painting in the spare time, keeping track of personal finance to allow an “early retirement” in order to do the things we love)
• then I’ll still be here tomorrow, to high five you yesterday my friend. Peace – then your future version of you will be eternally grateful for the choices you made today (basically, to work hard on achieving your dream, even though you cannot see the results instantly), which shows a delayed reward 🙂

I found this fragment surprisingly deep for a cartoon that is shown to kids. Anyway, maybe it’s just me, but I really loved the show (even though the first season was somewhat mediocre). Thanks for reading.