"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

21 September 2010

"quote analysis"

is it any surprise...that here i am, in place of reading articles for coursework? Haha, of "course" not. (haha!) so, anyway, i do feel like writing though. it's not completely illegitimate that i'm here, ne? i like that my blog is not frequented publicly. it makes me think it's still somehow private, somehow shrouded in shawdow, yet wholly in a public space and slightly in your face, as well.

i'm thinking that we do live in a globalized world. i'm thinking that it does matter--all this technology, these new modes and methods, this lifestyle we have chosen. It's frenzied, is it not? i don't want to sign up to live on the next commune, and separate myself from modernity, but i want to get closer to some kind of inner vein.

Have you ever read Tuesdays with Morrie? I don't think we ruminate on death enough. And I think we should...because it would bring us closer to the opposite.

There are two things now, from the book, that I want to touch upon. Of course they are quotes, because if you ever read my stuff, my writing, you know that this is how I communicate best (i think).

The first is,
"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."
this is from pg.43

upon my first reading of this book (2007), this quote i carried with me so much that i immediately decorated a note card with it, carried the card to freshman year of college, and clipped it into one of those clippy photo holders, on my desk. i felt that i had discovered this during my senior year of high school: that community service sometimes sucks, though sometimes you try to do volunteer work and people take advantage of you and use you for free labor, ultimately, it is in this commitment that we find we are free. a paradox, no? it is part of something.it is not just to do with (_____), either...it has to do with being a citizen. to saying, "okay, i am here, what can i do? how i use myself, my personality, my strengths, to give something here?" to say it's "giving not getting" is to oversimplify. it's more than that...do you know what i mean? i wish i could express better what this means to me.

the second quote i want to touch upon is this. it comes from pg. 61.
"You closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too-even when you are in the dark. Even when you're falling."

i think this one speaks for itself more, but of course...i want to extrapolate a little more anyway. i think it speak to vulnerability. we avoid this so. much. appearances, appearances, appearances, dictate. and sometimes i just can't stand it. blah blah...anyway, i'll wrap this up, getting windy.

Last is, this. Not sure of page number. A note on culture.
"People are only mean when they're threatened, and that's what our culture does...And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture."

Can we get past this?

17 September 2010

i try and i fail and i try and i fail, but eventually, i will succeed.