01-14-2012, 04:25 AM
As this is not a poem, I am going to do something I don't usually do, which is write what thoughts I had in response to what you had to say. I usually don't do this because I don't think in general it will benefit the writer in anyway, but as this is in that vague category of poetic prose, there is little to technically critique, so I offer me thoughts about what you said. Not as a way to judge right or wrong, good or bad in the content, or even my agreement or disagreement, but simply as a sound board for how it struck me. As to the value of that, I cannot say.
Dale
It is often hard not to discount "older peoples wisdom", because I think we often sense it is colored by their own disappointments. It's like (although I actually never have) having played the lottery for twenty years, and never having won, nor ever having know someone who won, you tell the person, "you're just throwing your money away, better to invest it in mutual funds". Even though most likely true, what it overlooks is what risk a person is willing to take to maintain the hope of winning, and how much that is worth to them. This is true of any high risk venture like wanting to be a movie star. Just because it is true that a person chances are very small to succeed in such a thing, doesn't mean they are ignoring that "truth" by pursuing it anyway, it may mean that they are willing to take the risk. I think one must acknowledge the truth, but at the same time, there is no reason one has to take the path that most people think is obviously the only way to go in the light of that truth. What they fail to see is that not everyone wants to play the percentages. The real truth is that, yes you have lower odds to succeed, but you might have higher odds to be happy: in their wisdom, they forgot to factor happiness into their equation of "the truth".
Dale
It is often hard not to discount "older peoples wisdom", because I think we often sense it is colored by their own disappointments. It's like (although I actually never have) having played the lottery for twenty years, and never having won, nor ever having know someone who won, you tell the person, "you're just throwing your money away, better to invest it in mutual funds". Even though most likely true, what it overlooks is what risk a person is willing to take to maintain the hope of winning, and how much that is worth to them. This is true of any high risk venture like wanting to be a movie star. Just because it is true that a person chances are very small to succeed in such a thing, doesn't mean they are ignoring that "truth" by pursuing it anyway, it may mean that they are willing to take the risk. I think one must acknowledge the truth, but at the same time, there is no reason one has to take the path that most people think is obviously the only way to go in the light of that truth. What they fail to see is that not everyone wants to play the percentages. The real truth is that, yes you have lower odds to succeed, but you might have higher odds to be happy: in their wisdom, they forgot to factor happiness into their equation of "the truth".
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.