I
have come to the edge of the world. I was sent here by forces greater
than my control. However, not every string is being pulled by someone
else. Now that this place is a reality, I have a say in what happens.
Its been a while since I've been happy. But today, for the first time in my life, I was 500 miles from the closest television. Its not much, but its a start. People have forgotten what is was like to be alone with themselves.
Its been a while since I've been happy. But today, for the first time in my life, I was 500 miles from the closest television. Its not much, but its a start. People have forgotten what is was like to be alone with themselves.
The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness. -Fyodor Dostoevsky
The source was located. It was distraction. Distraction from whats staring you in the face. Life. Hate. Beauty. Pain. Love. Death. Things that can't be ignored.
Now here is the biggest lake in the world. The cliff spreads from my boots down 1000 feet. Then the water, calm, spreads to the horizon where, if the sun catches it right, you can see snowy cloud crowned mountains. If you had told me that this was the edge of our natural world, I'd have believed you at that moment. There is nothing here. I built something. A trivial pile of rocks. A marker. Just to show I was here with the nothingness.
Who's to say its not the edge? Its the edge for me. For now. If I leave, I will fall off, and I dont think I'll be able to climb back up.
I honestly had no idea where to start for this project. The information says, that if your confused, you're on the right track. That was reassuring. I just began to look through my pictures until one spoke to me. I took the picture, and it did take effort to distance myself from my experiences to try and write something that was non-autobiographical. Once I started writing though, I just kept the channel open and let it flow. Hopefully, reader, you don't find it too hypothetical or preachy or something worse. I guess we will see where this thing progresses. (100)
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ReplyDeleteI think the writer has done a great job of establishing place with this first post. Through the text, I was able to imagine myself in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a huge lake that seemed to have no end. I was able to imagine myself in a place that seemed like the edge of the world. The photo included further aided in establishing the sense of place. The writer also did a good job establishing and invoking a peaceful yet melancholy mood. The photo used along with the blue background and the author’s choice of words all worked together to invoke the feelings of peace and melancholy. The ending especially added to the feeling. The way the writer insinuates death makes the concept seem like a peaceful freedom instead of something to be afraid of.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing about this post is that the melancholy feeling it invokes doesn’t necessarily feel like the typical melancholy feeling. It’s not a bad or sad feeling. It’s kind of like when you’re alone in a quiet space for a long period of time and you just get lost in your thoughts and you don’t feel happy, sad, good, or bad. You’re just there; you just ARE. I’m not sure if I’m doing a good job describing this different kind of melancholy, but that’s the best way I can relay the feeling, and this different type of melancholy is what I felt reading this post.
I really enjoyed the quote included in the post. It’s an interesting quote and it worked well in bringing the concepts of happiness and unhappiness full circle. I could definitely relate to the writer’s source of unhappiness. Distraction works by taking your mind off of things, and in doing so it can rob you of the simple joys of life. Sometimes we get so distracted that we don’t realized how distracted we are until the distraction is no longer present. I think this is what the narrator is experiencing.
All in all, the post was great and I really enjoyed reading it. I’m really looking forward to seeing what becomes of my own post once I incorporate this post into it.