Life Lessons with Lawrence: #1

"Is it good or bad to just run into a fire for someone in a fire?" 

-Both, it's good because you can save someone, but bad I guess because you could get hurt.  

"But what if the fire burns you too? Why do you run into the fire?"

-After he said this my mouth parted slightly as if I were going to say something in reply, but my eyes could only stare as he distractedly focused his attention back to the ruler he was using to make a bridge- completely unaware of the lesson he had just taught me. He was talking about firemen of course, when he asked me if it was good or bad to just run into a fire, but I let the lesson sink into me on a philosophical level. 

Why do we run into fire for others when the chances of getting hurt ourselves is so clearly high? Maybe this isn't the right question. It's good we run into fire for others despite the possibility of getting hurt, it shows the intense compassion humans hold. Maybe, a better question is what happens when we run into a fire to save someone?

There a few scenarios that come to mind. The first being the most optimistic: we save that someone. The second less so: we save that someone while burning ourselves. And finally, the third and least optimistic of the three: we don't save that someone and we get burned. All are possible and probable scenarios given your situation. 

I think it's part of the human condition to help those in need, but when we put our own life in danger and do not succeed, who helps you then? 

If you didn't know, Lawrence is a mentally handicapped student I've had the pleasure to get to know this year in 6th period art. His lessons are simple and timeless. I hope have the opportunity of hearing more. 

First Chapters

I got a book a few days ago that I've been looking forward to reading. Though I had much excitement towards the book I kept putting off starting it. It's tough to buckle down and get started. Tonight I decided I would no longer put it off. I've barely even read the first page and a half when I had to stop. A thought just came to me:

 First chapters. They're pretty important right? It seems like hold great importance. But what if they suck?

 I keep going back to the first chapter of my novel and rereading and rewriting. Nothing seems right, nothing seems good enough to be the first chapter. This whole idea has me really caught up-caught up like those vines in Harry Potter in which you keep struggling and the vines pull you in tighter and tangle you more. The only way to get out of them is to completely relax, or with sunlight. So maybe I just need to relax, because first chapters only seem important and my first chapter only seems unfillfilling to me.  I do ponder though, what could be my sunlight to this? 

The more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that first chapters aren't crucial nor detrimental. They just matter in the sense of how the most common routines matter- they just set ground level for the rest of the day that can't be predicted. In all of my reading, I can only recall one book to which I actually remember the first chapter to, probably because it said "The clock struck thirteen." Which is a rather uncommon way to begin a book. 

 I appreciate first chapters more now than ever. Getting started is hard. I think people see that though, so they keep reading after the first chapter. 

When Daily Becomes Weekly

The thing about writers isn't the wonderful image created in our minds, everyone had that image. It's that we so desperately want to translate the picture into words so that other people are able to see what we see in our heads. You could picture a tree in your head, an average tree, and spend years describing it's every detail so that someone else could imagine this tree too, but your work would never be complete, you're too much of a perfectionist for that. You'll never be quite convinced that the other person is seeing what your seeing. It's too easy to obsess over an image in your mind. Whether it be one you want to share or one you want to see yourself as. Every time you imagine it, it's a little different than the last- making it impossible to ever be able to relate the one image to anyone else unless they are in you head at that exact moment. Which unfortunately, isn't possible at the moment. I struggle to put the organized chaos in my head into coherent writing and I never quite feel statisfied when I finish.

 Lately, I've been using this as an excuse to why I haven't gotten anything posted for a while. When did the daily become the weekly? I knew the hardest part of this blog would be keeping an even pace, but I'm happy to be able to say I still want to keep this blog going.