lilygirl
Bluelighter
*this is an essay for my english class. The assignment is to take an idea from Emerson or Thoreau and either agree or disagree with it. It's only the second draft, and i will edit this post with the final draft, but i definitely could use some feedback before i turn in the final copy. So, yeah, enjoy!*
Emerson said that our life is frittered away by detail. I disagree. I am made up of details. So much can be learned from observing the seemingly meaningless intricacies, hands for example. I wear green nail polish that is almost completely chipped off that matches my green eyes and inability to find the time to repaint them. My nails are constantly being bitten or picked down, a habit I don’t care to stop. That requires too much energy, and besides, I think it makes me mysterious and unique. Don’t you? There’s always some direction or reminder on my hand, because there are some things I will never remember unless they’re branded on me in such a fashion. Much the same can be learned about people through observation: their passions, their desires, and their innate flaws. I am made up of details. I am the opposite of simplicity. My life reflects my personality. I am always busy with something, constantly wrapped up in some new passion. I detest boredom and evade it at all cost. I smile at strangers and dance in the rain, but I’m deathly afraid of bees. I hate Times New Roman. I use every possible occasion to learn or shape my beliefs. Someone worth remembering once said that ignorance is bliss. But, I believe in my details and I would never dream of trading them for any kind of simple life, no matter how blissful. I see it all around me; simplicity corrupts.
It’s amazing what can be gained from going to a public place and just observing people. Life lessons do not need to be contained in a large obscure philosophical idea, they can be found in everyday life. What it means to be a good person cannot be easily defined, but it can be taught through example. Try to think of a person you love more than anything. Have someone? Okay, tell me why. Personally, I could not live without my closest friend. Whenever I lose a possession, she always seems to magically know where it is, even if she was not present when it was lost. I love her because she can play monopoly with me for eight hours straight, and not become sick of it. But, most importantly, she showed me how to be assertive and how to live without continuous fear of saying the wrong thing. So, before I write pages and pages about everyone I love, I’ll get to the point. The reasons people love other people are details. Think about it. We all look fairly the same and we all dress similarly. Now describe what the person you thought of earlier looks like. It’s hard, isn’t it? They are only mildly distinct, but it’s not hard for me to spot certain people in a crowd. The only logical conclusion is that the niceties are what make us all different. We cannot fritter away anything because of details, because details are all we are.
Simplify, simplify, they tell him as he examines his tasks for the week. He buries his head in his hands as he worries, not only about his obligations, but the continuing obligation of taking care of his siblings, and his mother. The details spin a web around him, trapping him in this singular path. All he needs to do is simplify. He climbs the bridge, because it was a very simple conclusion… Stands on the edge, and jumps. He feels everything rush away and then, in divine ecstasy, CRASH. Simplicity. To be truly simple is to be dead. Life is being wrapped up in the details.
She never pays attention to what they say to her. Too busy creating plays with her pencils as the leads, they assume there is something wrong with her. She cannot properly go through the motions of early elementary school. What ensues is a group of meetings. These meetings determine that she must be ill; she must have Attention Deficit Disorder. Sufficiently drugged up, she continues. Her imagination is not lessened, but now she can commit their ideas to memory so they will stop hassling her, and her parents. Finally finished with the standardized learning of early education, she departs for art school, Ritalin-free. You see, she was not ever sick, only endowed with the ability to see the details that create great art; the details her teachers were not able to see. They saw a simple life that was never her idea. Fear simplicity as advice, because it always comes from someone with a different plan.
This plan is not yours as life without details is not life. Things are not as simple as people of authority would like for you to believe. Life is not about being contained or a lifeless robot going through the motions. Real life is made of details woven by the mind into something meaningful. Every person is a collection of details, and they all have a story to tell and their own idea of what is important. Indispensable lessons can be learned from observation. Sometimes one needs to just sit and take it all on, but that does not mean simplicity, by any means, it is the opposite. Thought is consistent and complicated and simplicity corrupts.
-lil
Emerson said that our life is frittered away by detail. I disagree. I am made up of details. So much can be learned from observing the seemingly meaningless intricacies, hands for example. I wear green nail polish that is almost completely chipped off that matches my green eyes and inability to find the time to repaint them. My nails are constantly being bitten or picked down, a habit I don’t care to stop. That requires too much energy, and besides, I think it makes me mysterious and unique. Don’t you? There’s always some direction or reminder on my hand, because there are some things I will never remember unless they’re branded on me in such a fashion. Much the same can be learned about people through observation: their passions, their desires, and their innate flaws. I am made up of details. I am the opposite of simplicity. My life reflects my personality. I am always busy with something, constantly wrapped up in some new passion. I detest boredom and evade it at all cost. I smile at strangers and dance in the rain, but I’m deathly afraid of bees. I hate Times New Roman. I use every possible occasion to learn or shape my beliefs. Someone worth remembering once said that ignorance is bliss. But, I believe in my details and I would never dream of trading them for any kind of simple life, no matter how blissful. I see it all around me; simplicity corrupts.
It’s amazing what can be gained from going to a public place and just observing people. Life lessons do not need to be contained in a large obscure philosophical idea, they can be found in everyday life. What it means to be a good person cannot be easily defined, but it can be taught through example. Try to think of a person you love more than anything. Have someone? Okay, tell me why. Personally, I could not live without my closest friend. Whenever I lose a possession, she always seems to magically know where it is, even if she was not present when it was lost. I love her because she can play monopoly with me for eight hours straight, and not become sick of it. But, most importantly, she showed me how to be assertive and how to live without continuous fear of saying the wrong thing. So, before I write pages and pages about everyone I love, I’ll get to the point. The reasons people love other people are details. Think about it. We all look fairly the same and we all dress similarly. Now describe what the person you thought of earlier looks like. It’s hard, isn’t it? They are only mildly distinct, but it’s not hard for me to spot certain people in a crowd. The only logical conclusion is that the niceties are what make us all different. We cannot fritter away anything because of details, because details are all we are.
Simplify, simplify, they tell him as he examines his tasks for the week. He buries his head in his hands as he worries, not only about his obligations, but the continuing obligation of taking care of his siblings, and his mother. The details spin a web around him, trapping him in this singular path. All he needs to do is simplify. He climbs the bridge, because it was a very simple conclusion… Stands on the edge, and jumps. He feels everything rush away and then, in divine ecstasy, CRASH. Simplicity. To be truly simple is to be dead. Life is being wrapped up in the details.
She never pays attention to what they say to her. Too busy creating plays with her pencils as the leads, they assume there is something wrong with her. She cannot properly go through the motions of early elementary school. What ensues is a group of meetings. These meetings determine that she must be ill; she must have Attention Deficit Disorder. Sufficiently drugged up, she continues. Her imagination is not lessened, but now she can commit their ideas to memory so they will stop hassling her, and her parents. Finally finished with the standardized learning of early education, she departs for art school, Ritalin-free. You see, she was not ever sick, only endowed with the ability to see the details that create great art; the details her teachers were not able to see. They saw a simple life that was never her idea. Fear simplicity as advice, because it always comes from someone with a different plan.
This plan is not yours as life without details is not life. Things are not as simple as people of authority would like for you to believe. Life is not about being contained or a lifeless robot going through the motions. Real life is made of details woven by the mind into something meaningful. Every person is a collection of details, and they all have a story to tell and their own idea of what is important. Indispensable lessons can be learned from observation. Sometimes one needs to just sit and take it all on, but that does not mean simplicity, by any means, it is the opposite. Thought is consistent and complicated and simplicity corrupts.
-lil
