In the midst of pizza and conversation Thursday night after work my roommates and I decided to embark on a Blog Challenge.
We came up with a list of seven topics:
1. Post a meaningful quote accompanied by an explanation.
2. Post a meaningful song/video accompanied by an explanation.
3. Talk about a person or specific interaction you encountered today.
4. Where are you in five years?
5. What movie did you always wish you were in?
6. Describe a personality trait that you could do without.
7. Your present self runs into your future self on the street, your future self gives your present self advice, what is it?
Some of these topics will be a breeze for one or two of us and prove to be overwhelmingly difficult for the other. (Can you guess which one's I'm going to struggle with?!) The point of this challenge is to get the three of us to just write and not over think our posts. To day dream about the future, to dig deep and share our vulnerabilities, and to be aware of the present. So here we go!
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I am already losing. It's Saturday morning and my first blog was due last night. I'm lacking any and all creativity and inspiration, but I'd better get going since I have two blogs entries to post today, and just a mere 24 hours to think, write, re-write, and post my thoughts, beliefs, and stories every day until Friday.
So once again, here we go. My first of two blogs for today. If I fall short of your expecations this week I apologize. Jump on over to Kendra's or Kara's blogs. They'll surly knock your socks off.
I'm going with what I find to be the easiest of the 7 topics listed (that being a meaningful quote). I thought about it all morning. Originally I thought I'd use "I wish it could just be simple, like a retro pop song, I want you to want me. Boom. End of story. We all live happily ever after." But since I'm currently sitting the public library looking out a window at the cars driving by on such a gloomy day in San Diego, I figured, why not quote Ray Bradbury?
Three weeks ago I decided to challenge myself intellectually by reading the top 100 novels of the 20th century starting with Fahrenheit 451 (which is where my quote today will be coming from). This challenge has been difficult and fulfilling at the same time for Hemmingway is no easy read but his stories are beyond powerful.
After flipping back through Fahrenheit 451 this morning, I had a hard time deciding on just one quote to post, so listed below are three quotes that are not only beautiful in the context of the novel, but also with all context put aside.
"Do your own saving, and if you drown at least die knowing you were headed for shore."
I chose this quote because it is a steady reminder to not become so dependent on those around me. A few months ago I was hit by a cargo train full of reality. I had lost sight of my own independence - I was constantly relying on other people to come to my recuse - and when I was faced with an enormous change in lifestyle my world was turned upside down. I am now aware of the extent to which I place myself in relation to others. I understand that I can't do certain things alone, and I have my friends and family to help me along the way. But now I am entirely certain that I don't need them all the time, that figuring things out on my own is part of my journey. I need to attempt to do my own saving. If I fail, well, then I have others to fall back on, and if that happens to be the case, at least I'll know I was headed towards shore before the lifeboat pulled me out of the water.
"Live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds, see the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees. Ask for no security."
If I fell off my chair in 10 seconds and died right here in the library would I be happy with the life I lived? I'm gonna say yes. Certainly I feel like there is more I want to accomplish, more I want to see, and more lives I want to touch, but I feel like I have done a good deal of all three in my short 21 years. I do, however, wish that I lived more outside of my alternate reality and more in the one I have been placed in because according to Bradbury 'it's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.' Lately I've been attempting to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself to me. Whether that be a free organ concert in Balboa Park, having honest and sincere conversations with unusual subjects, or staying up until 3:30am when I have to wake up at 6:30am for work. I can't ask for guarantees or security in every aspect of life. I need to start taking chances, putting myself in uncomfortable situations, and being open to new experiences.
"Tt doesn't matter what you do so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away."
This is perhaps the most profound. I struggle with social justice work because I can't seem to find a healthy medium between my emotional security and my service. When I offer support, volunteer, of attempt to raise awareness I feel unsatisfied and defeated. Perhaps I've helped one individual, and educated a few more, but realistically speaking, I've not even made a miniscule dent in the problem at hand. I don't remember the context behind this sentence in Fahrenheit 451, but it seems to be saying that we don't need to accomplish something monumental, we just need to accomplish something. Last week as I drove from job number 1 to job number 2, I handed a man standing on the street corner a water bottle and the remainder of my lunch (a bag of carrots, a fruit cup, and some crackers). The light wasn't red but I slowed down and stopped anyways only to have the man in a black SUV behind me honk until I put my car back in first gear and made my way through the green light. So with this quote in mind what did I accomplish in the instance that is my own? I changed the day of a perfect stranger who may or may not have been homeless. I fed him. I took a perfectly empty situation and left my mark. He most definitely wont remember me in weeks to come, and perhaps he has already forgotten our interaction, but he remembered me when he was hungry and reached in his backpack for my left over lunch. I changed his day, and hopefully his spirit... for maybe he realized there are people out there who truly care. I also think I altered something for the irritated man behind me. I changed his day by adding frustration, but I bet that frustration led to at least a few minutes of thought about why a young girl stopped traffic to hand something to a beggar.
Well that concludes my first entry in this challenge. I hope you to check back later tonight for my second entry (hopefully I'll be caught up) and I encourage you to read Fahrenheit 451 and see what it does for you!
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