Spring calls to us. The sun begins to warm the earth and wakens the animals and flowers. It warms the waters and wakens us from our winter slumbers. The air flows through the meadows and gardens. It stirs our hair and brings smiles to our faces.
Flowers bloom and bring color to our world along with their intoxicating perfumes. Grills are lit and balls are tossed. Laughter echoes from parks and schoolyards. The beauties of Spring abound and capture our hearts. Spring brings to mind bright green sunlight filtering down through the trees while the ropes of our tree swing creak with every forward motion we make. The splash of water as we leap into the swimming hole. The whack of a baseball against a bat at the local little league game.聽 Spring is here. Spring is all around us. It makes us better and drives us to be better. Spring is here. Spring is now
0 Comments
I can't help but wonder about what drives people to do some of the things that they do. Why did Van Gogh paint 'Starry Night?' Who came up with the dry erase marker? Why do some ideas take off while others don't?
It's a lot like when I look at fashion magazine and think: besides Lady Gaga, who would wear that, especially to work or on a date? I guess it is all of the little things, though, that make us such an interesting species. Humans are weird. Which for us is normal. We get these crazy ideas in our heads and we can't get them out. They sit there, in our heads, and simmer until they are fully cooked and then we plate them and serve them up for the rest of humanity to poke and prod and judge. It doesn't matter where you came from either. It doesn't matter what your parents did for a living or where you bought your clothes, or how you wear your hair, or even what country you come from. Wow. Imagine that. Makes me proud, if a little puzzled, to be human.
I love a good young adult, fantasy novel. It also happens to be the genre I read most of. I was in a discussion with a lovely older lady from my online book club the other day and she asked me a very interesting question. Why do I like young adult stories so much? Of course, I asked her what she meant, because I didn't want to misunderstand her question, and she told me that she felt young adult fantasy stories were unrealistic and ridiculous. I told her that, where I agree with her that some are highly unrealistic, I doubt you can really run through a stone pillar to board a train to get to school, not all of them are unrealistic. She countered that they were, because the teenager always ends up being the hero. We talked a little longer, quickly changing subjects, before I had to get off the internet. Later, I found myself asking, what is wrong with the teenager being the hero?
As we age, we experience different things that beat away at our innocence and our sense of wonder. Children are innocent by nature, they believe in fairies and wishes and morality. I feel that teenagers are a nice blend of the two. They are old enough to understand responsibility, they have acquired knowledge and ability to strategize, they know that not every decision is an easy decision and that the line between right and wrong sometimes blurs to gray. They know some of the ways that the world actually works. But unlike an adult, they still believe that good triumphs over evil, that people are naturally good, and that anything is possible. I understand that not all teenagers, or adults, are this way, but I feel that many are. They are not yet tainted by the harsher realities of the world. Unlike my book club friend, I believe that the teenager being the hero makes perfect sense. I know that adults can also be heroes, and even children, we hear about it everyday. I mean no disrespect, I simply understand the appeal of a teenage hero in a fictional story, after all there are teenage heroes all over the place. You just have to decide what really makes a hero a hero. |
Currently ReadingWhere the Crawdads Sing by Delia OwensAmazon Associates ProgramImages on these pages should lead you to Amazon links to find the books. "We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”
Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|