- I think this quote is the PERFECT thing to describe the society that we live in today. It proves, that we've been living this way since long before the paparazzi and the tabloids. The quote says "we were a little disappointed that there was not a public blowing-off." Isn't that how we still are today? The tabloids make break-ups of these celebrity couples seem a heck of a lot more catastrophic than they really are. For that fact, your own friends make your break-up, fight, anything seem worse than it is just so they can get pleasure out of the drama. People feed off of that kind of stuff. When something so tiny is turned into the event of the century so that it can be re-told in a manner that impresses others. It's all about the image. It always has been. Society tries to play the "deep emotion" card on things like this and I agree they're deep; when being compared to a tide pool.
"If it was ever a man wanted to take her away, I would say, 'No man on earth is going to take that sweet girl of mine away from me!' but if he was to say, 'Lady, I don't want to take her away, I want her right here,' I would say, 'Mister, I don't blame you none."- The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Flannery O'Connor
- This is funny because talking to my parents they told me no way would they want me to stay with them forever. They want me gone and on my own. This isn't a bad thing and I do not take it offensively because I understand what they're saying. Growing up and having a life of your own is part of the maturity process. If a child is kept at home with their parents their entire life, what good does that do any of them? The child never learns to fend for himself and the parents never learn to let go. Then what happens when the parents fall ill or pass away? The child is left vulnerable to the outside world, which let's face it, can be extremely harsh at times. By saying that she wants her daughter to live with her forever, she is basically smothering her daughter and not doing her one ounce of good.
"Krebs acquired the nausea in regard to experience that is the result of untruth or exaggeration, and when he occasionally met another man who had really been a soldier and they talked a few minutes in the dressing room at a dance he fell into the easy pose of the old soldier among other soldiers: that he had been badly, sickeningly frightened all the time. In this way, he lost everything."- Soldiers Home by Ernest Hemingway
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD): an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat. Obviously, this man in the story is suffering PTSD or something. They may be heroes, but no hero earned that title by doing something easy. They faced extreme difficulties, probably everyday. In his case, I'd say he saw something tragic 3-5 times a day just being in the military. Being the granddaughter of a retired air force colonel, I can tell you the effects war has on a person. It is extremely brutal and I think this quote really captures the essence of pain they go through.
"So she left that tree, and had to go through a barbed-wire fence. There she had to creep and crawl, spreading her knees and stratching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps. But she talked loudly to herself: She could not let her dress be torn now, so late in the day, and she would not pay for having her arm or her leg sawed off if she got caught fast where she was."- A Worn Path by Eudora Welty
- This quote shows the extreme hardships that people would endure to get the things that they needed in the old days. Now, if the walk is more than half a mile we drive our cars to get it. Today, everyone is just lazy compared to this woman. In the end we find out the reason she goes through all this is to get medicine for her sick grandson, who is actually dead. The amount of effort this woman puts forth to help him is remarkable. Just yesterday I heard about a lady who left her kids in a car while she went grocery shopping and child protective services came and took them away. It's ridiculous the laziness of people now a days. We could all use a lesson from the woman in this story.
"He wishes for perfection. He would like to destroy us, for we are, variously, too fat, too grotesque, too jocular, too affectionate, and heedless in our ways."- Son by John Updike
- In a sense, everyone wishes for perfection. The definition of perfection varies from person to person, but it is perfection none the less. We strive for our version everyday, but sometimes I have to wonder, is it really worth it? Constantly we beat ourselves up because we're too fat, too skinny, too smart or too dumb, but do others see us the way we see ourselves? Eventually it takes a toll on us. People suffer from depression, anxiety, and all kinds of nasty things because we're worried about what other people think of us. The age old expression, "It's not what's on the outside, it's what's on the inside that counts" says it all. We should live by that every day and not label people like the boy in this story did. I am who I am, and you are who you are. You can alter your nose and your lips and anything else you want to but in the long run, does it really make you that much happier?
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