That night in the parking lot, I realized it wasn't. It wasn't enough to be "happy enough." We're all in this together, yes, but the idea that this is all there is can't be true. Life can't just be about chasing down highs and collecting material things, making it through each day and then...that's it. There's got to be more.
Because if there isn't, that makes all of this as unimportant as that man was to all those people. And I just don't buy that.
We don't just stay here for a period of time, accomplish a life's worth of random tasks, then die. How hopeless is that? No. The point of all this is the destination.
And that makes everything important."
If you're curious where that came from, look here.
Now, so many thoughts ran through my mind in response to this article, but what I really settled on was my writing.
Why did that come up, do you wonder?
Well, when I was a child growing up, I didn't have a perfect existence. I was bullied, and I didn't have an ideal home situation, as rarely do people ever.
What I did have were books.
I could be there as a normal girl learned how to be brave, and meet fantastical creatures like unicorns (Bruce Coville's "The Song of the Wanderer") or even learn firsthand about discrimination against different alien races (K.A. Applegate's "The Hork Bajir Chronicles").
I saw how strong horses could be, and how they encourage their riders to be just as strong (Marguerite Henry's "Misty of Chincoteague") and I learned that being true to yourself, whoever you chose to be, would win you true friends who cared for you. (Any and ALL of Tamora Pierce's books. Man, I love that author.)
I enjoy writing. I LOVE writing. It makes me happy to be able to get out all my neuroses by tapping into how someone else could feel, faced with the same issue, and how they would react in opposite ways.
Book reading is still one of my favorite activities, but writing is now my escape.
When I write, I want to touch everyone inside, and make them think for just a little bit, that life is good, it's great to be them, the hard times are just that; hard times. I want to provide a way for them to learn or remember their own strength. I want them to reflect on their decisions. I want to provoke thought and learning and self bettering, not for anyone else, but for that one person to want to excel at whatever it is they desire.
One of the best things about books is that my favorite writers (Bruce Coville, Tamora Pierce, Kelley Armstrong, Margaret Atwood) were able to give me a place to hide and recover and give me hope. They also gave me the idea that whatever I work at, I can succeed at.
As a writer, I want to touch someone else's life like that. I succeed once, then it was all worth it, and that one person will hopefully pay it forward.
Maybe I'm doing it for that scared little girl who hid inside her books during lunch hour, when the bullies learned they could push her around, maybe I'm doing it for the girl she turned into, when she found inner strength, maybe I'm doing it for all the scared and hurting kids who need an escape, when they just need a break from the world.
If that's "happy enough" for me, I can't imagine being any happier in life. This is what is important to me.
Now, so many thoughts ran through my mind in response to this article, but what I really settled on was my writing.
Why did that come up, do you wonder?
Well, when I was a child growing up, I didn't have a perfect existence. I was bullied, and I didn't have an ideal home situation, as rarely do people ever.
What I did have were books.
I could be there as a normal girl learned how to be brave, and meet fantastical creatures like unicorns (Bruce Coville's "The Song of the Wanderer") or even learn firsthand about discrimination against different alien races (K.A. Applegate's "The Hork Bajir Chronicles").
I saw how strong horses could be, and how they encourage their riders to be just as strong (Marguerite Henry's "Misty of Chincoteague") and I learned that being true to yourself, whoever you chose to be, would win you true friends who cared for you. (Any and ALL of Tamora Pierce's books. Man, I love that author.)
I enjoy writing. I LOVE writing. It makes me happy to be able to get out all my neuroses by tapping into how someone else could feel, faced with the same issue, and how they would react in opposite ways.
Book reading is still one of my favorite activities, but writing is now my escape.
When I write, I want to touch everyone inside, and make them think for just a little bit, that life is good, it's great to be them, the hard times are just that; hard times. I want to provide a way for them to learn or remember their own strength. I want them to reflect on their decisions. I want to provoke thought and learning and self bettering, not for anyone else, but for that one person to want to excel at whatever it is they desire.
One of the best things about books is that my favorite writers (Bruce Coville, Tamora Pierce, Kelley Armstrong, Margaret Atwood) were able to give me a place to hide and recover and give me hope. They also gave me the idea that whatever I work at, I can succeed at.
As a writer, I want to touch someone else's life like that. I succeed once, then it was all worth it, and that one person will hopefully pay it forward.
Maybe I'm doing it for that scared little girl who hid inside her books during lunch hour, when the bullies learned they could push her around, maybe I'm doing it for the girl she turned into, when she found inner strength, maybe I'm doing it for all the scared and hurting kids who need an escape, when they just need a break from the world.
If that's "happy enough" for me, I can't imagine being any happier in life. This is what is important to me.
I think a lot of people think that life is suposed to be like the movies and they are chasing a mythical happy ending. Life is what you make of it and if you can find some happiness in it, you're doing it right. I think this is why I prefer the Song of Ice and Fire books over other books simply because I know no one is going to live happily every after and no one's happiness lasts, but it's life, and how they live it is what counts. No one can take Ned Stark's honor away from him no matter what, he lived his life to the best that he could, so he had a full life.
ReplyDeleteSilly people. Don't they realize that fairy tales NEVER had happy endings?
ReplyDelete