The Truman Show

There was a movie that was released while I was still in high school called The Truman Show. Jim Carrey was the star and the movie producers promoted the film to be a funny, silly, Jim Carreyish movie. The basic plot was that Truman (Jim Carrey) grew up on a reality TV show. Everyone around him were actors and Truman grew up never knowing that his entire life was caught on film. Finally after too many years, Truman figures it out and escapes the TV show. The End.

The Truman Show is almost always on my mind. When I finally go a little gaga in old age, I will be suffering from a severe form of Truman Showitis. I am constantly thinking about my own Truman Show. Are my own children miniature actors "sent in" to create comic moments and boost ratings? Does my husband really love me? Does he have another (real) family somewhere else--that he visits when he goes to work and during all the evening meetings? Does the auidence like my life or is the network going to cancel me?

I never took a philosophy class in high school or college, but my husband took quite a bit (his minor at RF) and he says that my struggle with The Truman Show is actually a very basic philosophical question about whether I exist or not.