22 May 1905 (65)
"Dawn. A salmon fog floats through the city, carried on the breath of the river."
This is a world of changed plans because time stops and starts in fits. At the end of the chapter, the narrator asks a series of questions, which you should try to answer:Who would fare better in this world of fitful time?Those who have seen the future and live only one life?Or those who have not seen the future and wait to live life?Or those who deny the future and live two lives?
The future is such a precious thing that people will spend their entire lives working to ensure great success and splendor in the next part of their life. However, man often spends his entire life planning and altering his future to perfection that he never actually experiences what lies ahead. The future is the one thing that is a complete mystery to the human knowledge. Ma may have some clue of where he stands ten years from now, but the future is the future and we will not know what it entails until we get there. In this world of fitful time, as Lightman describes in Einstein’s dream, "time flow not evenly but fitfully and, as consequence, people receive fitful glimpses of their future"(66). Here some people know their future and live in a world of "guaranteed success"(67) and do not bother continuing their present when they know the future. There are also people who do not know their future and live in a world of "inactive suspense"(67). They wait in their beds and don't focus on their present life because some things might not be important in terms of the future. And finally, Lightman describes a group of people who know their future but believe that "the future can be changed"(68). All of the people described rely so heavily on the future and take few risks, if any. They can not handle the mystery of life and now have tarnished their present lives because of their eagerness to "know".
The lives or absence of lives, that these people chose to live are all, in my opinion, no way of living. However, I think the people who deny the future and live two lives would fare better in the fitful world. Lightman described the other two groups of people as ones who do not take any risks because "those who have seen the future do not need to take risks, and those who have not seen the future wait for their vision without taking risks"(67). The present world has been deserted because they care so much about the occurrences in the future. The group who live two lives while they think they can change their unfavorable future, act on the present. Although their future is never changed, they never neglected the present. The only way to reach your future is to complete the present, but if you take no risks you will never live.
Word count: 405
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
" Insert catchy 'I believe' title here"
I believe in myself. I believe that at the end of hard day the most relaxing and easiest thing to be at the moment is to be myself. With the trials that each day bring I learn something knew that adds to the list of characteristics that describe me. Ever since I can remember I have been stuck between what I want to be and who I am. I know I want to be some outrageously successful surgeon and donate as much money as I spend. And every negative aspect of my childhood and adolescent years I want to change for my children which can only happen through success, as I see it. My Dad has beleived in me even when I did not and encourages me to always beleive in who I am and what I want to be. I want to be success. I believe in success and I believe in myself. That’s what I want to be but right now I am a hard working student and do not quite know how to manage my time, but I always somehow end up finishing everything I need to. As each year passes I believe in myself more and more and stop obsess sing with being someone else with every other person I am with and have learned to simply believe what I stand for- my family, values, and morals- believe where I come from , believe what I write and believe in myself.
My Dad has influenced me the most to work hard now and reap the benefits later. He has taught me to never give up and never be afraid to be who I am. Through his encouragement, I am definitely his protégé and I make him proud by living life the way he wants all his children too. He has been the one person who sways me the most to believe in who I am and all I have to offer. He has helped make me a generous, loving, crazy, determined, open-minded, independent, and successful person- a person that I believe in.
I have spent numerous hours of each day trying to be something I am not because I think that something is better than what I am. I learn though, that after I stop trying to use big words that I always fail to use correctly, I write better than I ever have before. When I realize the easiest thing to be in life- the thing that will get you trough any hard time- is to be yourself. I love to eat, I don’t care if I am size 4-6. I want to be a surgeon, I don’t care if you don’t think I can. I want to marry someone who loves me more than imaginable, I don’t care if it takes all my life. I want to help millions of people, I don’t care if it’s impossible. I want to be myself, I don’t care if you think this is a cheesy ending. Because I believe in what I say, what I write, what I know- I believe in myself.
Word Count: 492
My Dad has influenced me the most to work hard now and reap the benefits later. He has taught me to never give up and never be afraid to be who I am. Through his encouragement, I am definitely his protégé and I make him proud by living life the way he wants all his children too. He has been the one person who sways me the most to believe in who I am and all I have to offer. He has helped make me a generous, loving, crazy, determined, open-minded, independent, and successful person- a person that I believe in.
I have spent numerous hours of each day trying to be something I am not because I think that something is better than what I am. I learn though, that after I stop trying to use big words that I always fail to use correctly, I write better than I ever have before. When I realize the easiest thing to be in life- the thing that will get you trough any hard time- is to be yourself. I love to eat, I don’t care if I am size 4-6. I want to be a surgeon, I don’t care if you don’t think I can. I want to marry someone who loves me more than imaginable, I don’t care if it takes all my life. I want to help millions of people, I don’t care if it’s impossible. I want to be myself, I don’t care if you think this is a cheesy ending. Because I believe in what I say, what I write, what I know- I believe in myself.
Word Count: 492
False Intentions
In the world above, the people "with unnatural smiles" are those who spend their time trying to rectify their errors. Why wouldn't they be the most content instead?
History proves that human kind is a race prone to selfishness and injustice. When man has the chance to redeem himself for a wrong action they usually take full advantage of the opportunity, disregarding the circumstance. In this certain dream of Einstein, Lightman imagines a world where the people know exactly when time is going to end. "These days people are polite when they order their bread. They smile and pay promptly..."(Lightman 43) for they know that the world is ending soon and they have chosen to live the little time they have left free of anxiety and pain, rather fill of jovial joy. However “a few souls gallop through the street doing good deeds, attempting to correct their misdeeds of the past"(44). These few souls, apart from the rest in the world, are thinking beyond the reality that this little time left is painting calm, unified, and friendly world but more of their fate after life. Instead of naturally being friendly and valuing others while they have the time, they unnaturally smile as they mend each mistake of their past. Their contentment lies in their selfish satisfaction. The "few souls" demise that by effortlessly doing good deeds with the benefit of them in mind that they will have cleaned their plate just in time for the world to end. However, by unjustly fixing their past they are only tarnishing the present with selfish deeds of redemption.
By law of the Christianity, in order to fully be forgiven for a wrong action, God has to see by himself that you are truly sorry and your penance is true and not for any other reason but your apology. Thus a good deed by the "few souls" should be out of forgiveness and not redemption. They have had all their lives to correct their mistakes and now they are waiting till the very end to change everything. Their intentions are for the sake of their fate and life after life. Their half smiles are a result of their false intentions and we should look at them as an example that their is never enough time thus we should take advantage of the air we are breathing now and not wait till the very end to breath again.
Word count: 377
By law of the Christianity, in order to fully be forgiven for a wrong action, God has to see by himself that you are truly sorry and your penance is true and not for any other reason but your apology. Thus a good deed by the "few souls" should be out of forgiveness and not redemption. They have had all their lives to correct their mistakes and now they are waiting till the very end to change everything. Their intentions are for the sake of their fate and life after life. Their half smiles are a result of their false intentions and we should look at them as an example that their is never enough time thus we should take advantage of the air we are breathing now and not wait till the very end to breath again.
Word count: 377
Sunday, January 27, 2008
All Aboard the Time Train
14 April 1905 (8): "Suppose time is a circle..."In this chapter, most people aren't aware that "they will live their lives over" and that everything they do "will be repeated again and again, exactly as before." But those who are aware of the nature of time are the ones who lead miserable lives. Why?
Time, like love and hate, can never be felt by a human hand, but rather by the human mind. We know by the rising sun of each day that time is happening and we are moving with its path. However we don't know the route time takes. Most people latch themselves on the time-train and ride the one-way ticket until they meet their final destination. Where that is or when the train will stop for their departure is a mystery. But the few others left in the world know or make themselves believe that time is not a one-way ticket through life, rather "time is a circle"(Lightman 7) where the mistakes and precious moments in one's life happen over and over again. These "cursed citizens"(9) do not live in a mystery but a told secret and because they know this time-train will travel through the circle of life they are not capable of fully appreciating the moments they experience because they know that they will experience them again.
The people who enjoy their lives the most are the ones who live in the present and speak of the future. They do not dwell on their mistakes of the past but instead spend every moment of their present lives like that very second in time would never happen again. One should live life with the idea that the time-train is one shot to embrace and absorb every pit stop you take, like the train would never come back to that same place. Living ignorant to the nature of time allows you to avoid over thinking the instant reactions and emotions of your own nature. However, those who know the nature of time are "stricken with the knowledge that they cannot change a single action, single gesture"(9) and are barren of the instinct of their nature because they have been burdened with knowledge they can't forget.
The people who enjoy their lives the most are the ones who live in the present and speak of the future. They do not dwell on their mistakes of the past but instead spend every moment of their present lives like that very second in time would never happen again. One should live life with the idea that the time-train is one shot to embrace and absorb every pit stop you take, like the train would never come back to that same place. Living ignorant to the nature of time allows you to avoid over thinking the instant reactions and emotions of your own nature. However, those who know the nature of time are "stricken with the knowledge that they cannot change a single action, single gesture"(9) and are barren of the instinct of their nature because they have been burdened with knowledge they can't forget.
Word Count: 314
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