|
Last summer my husband and I decided to start watching Alias. We had never seen any of it and thought we'd check it out. With the availability of whole seasons on DVD, it was easy entertainment. It was also addictive entertainment — We watched four season of spy-drama in one summer, sometimes cramming three or four episodes into an evening. (I still have no idea where we found that kind of down-time).
In case you aren't familiar with Alias, it features an ordinary young woman who was recruited in college to be an intellegence agent. There's a lot more to it than that, but essentially, the premise of the show says that a normal girl, given the right training,
can basically become the
female version of James Bond. This got me thinking. . . could I be a spy?
The answer is no. Why? I'll tell you why. For starters, I'm a fairly tall, redheaded, extremely pale girl, so I tend to stick out in a crowd. Redheads are only like three percent of the population. I could wear a wig, but, I still have red eyebrows and freckles. Have you ever seen a brunette with red eyebrows? I think not.
Now, I think I could do some of the spy stuff, like sneak my way into buildings and plant wires and stuff, as long as I didn't get caught. I doubt I could fight my way out of a crop of corn, let alone a room full of heavily armed guards. I could be underestimating myself here, being that I have no combative training, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and say I didn't inherit any of my Mom's ninja skills.
Also, I think I would have a hard time lying to friends and family about my job. If you just flew to Minsk, were given the latest high tech device for stealing computerized data, had a hidden micro-camera in your earring, snuck into a high security building, snapped some photos, got the info, and were home in time for supper, don't you think you'd want to tell someone about your day?!
And although being a spy does sound kinda cool, let's not forget the downside. There's always having to lie about your job, the risk of getting caught and being tortured, or the chance of seeing 'too much' and having several years of your memory erased. Then there's the nagging doubt that your fiance/spouse could be a counter spy for another 'company' and are only feigning love for you to gain information from you. As well, if you were any good at your job, you would be routinely ticking off people who have a wide assortment of advanced weapons at their disposal, not to mention willingness to use them. Last but not least, with travelling to a different country every other day, just imagine how many shots you'd have to get.
|
