following dreams?

[gurdonark]

In the article today about rising grad and professional school apps, a Ms. Stacy Heenan discusses that she is going to professional school because, paraphrasing, September 11 taught her that life is too short, and one has to follow one's dreams.

I know many of us paused at length in the wake of this tragedy to think "life is too short" and draw close those around us.

But does anyone think that they're using the aftermath as a spur to pursue their dreams?
I just don't know.

Comments

[sushimonkey.livejournal.com]

It seems like only tragedy can spur the average person to do anything these days (quit smoking, eat betterm take that trip, visit loved ones...). We're so lacadasical (sp?) about life since we spend each day doing the same things...it seems like it's going to drag on forever. But it's not! And seeing people die so early can spawn some of us to realize that. At least for a few months before we fall back into a dragging routine.

My current mission in life is to go day by day and do something on a daily basis to throw a wrench into the draginess. I also now have so many things to look forward to on both a short term and long term basis that I am really excited about just BEING here.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I like that---excited about just BEING here.

[inushnu.livejournal.com]

I have to debate your point on there being inciting factors as the catalyst to change. Sure, you are being general and there are the exceptions but I have to scream out as one of those.

(comment turns to reply on post) I also have to say that there are ALWAYS crisis occurring and how can we say that to use one or another negates the movement toward growth in any way? I say: USE IT AND KEEP USING IT if that is what it takes. Forgive me if I get way off center field here (haha all the baseball talk on this post) but life is ALL ABOUT change, it never stops, it never ends and if we use some to create more or to work on a bit we are struggling with…. Why does it matter? Why do we have to have this mentality of authenticity about HOW the change was created/inspired/ignited? Does it matter how?

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

a good point, there...but shouldn't we find the search for meaning something to use even without the need for a tragedy to spur us?

are we really only as motivated as our fear?

Re:

[inushnu.livejournal.com]

yes. we ARE only as motivated as our fear. There are only two things in life that motivate us: fear and love. We generally get too complacent with love, relax into it but it is our FEAR that drives us...pushes.. forces us to keep moving when we might just wallow around in our soup of imposed and flawfull satedness.

And again... what does it matter what the vehicle is as long as we get on the road?

:)

[cathla143.livejournal.com]

Weird... I was just singing "I dreamed a dream" from Les Miserables...

I don't think 9/11 prompted me to change anything, except maybe to help me to remember that we never know when this day will be our last...

Actually, there have been a few "mini-reminders" lately... Mostly things that reminded me of people who I've known/loved who died suddenly, or at least way before "their time". The mind works in mysterious ways...

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Yes, the reminders for me tend not to be 9/11, but a world of "life is short" things. 9/11 did change when I arrive at airports, and it made me feel a grief so many others shared. I can't say it's made me a better person, though.

[voodoukween.livejournal.com]

i believe there are the reactionary types who need a drama of some kind to motivate themselves

there's those who profit from anything

as for me, it was just another day in the life of a tragic universe full of mystery and sorrow

just last night i was talking to an older woman who was saying that we are once again to lax in our vigilance.

i had just finished a delightful grilled randy jones hot dog and told her i was ready to go anytime, rather die happy at the ballgame than anywhere

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

mystery, sorrow, things we don't understand....

but also some joy. Let's not forget the joy!

Re:

[voodoukween.livejournal.com]

baseball=joy :)

[inushnu.livejournal.com]

lol baseball=naptime ;)

Re:

[voodoukween.livejournal.com]

seen some snoozing :)

Re:

[inushnu.livejournal.com]

bawwww hahahahaha!!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

No, it's cricket that = naptime.
Baseball is just a quiet snooze.

Re:

[inushnu.livejournal.com]

nono! in MY world CRICKET = quiet snooze and baseball=NAPNAP!

:P

I RULE MY WORLD! Neener! hehe

[asphalteden.livejournal.com]

I see so much post-9/11 kitsch, it's difficult to even write about it. Knowing how my family has dealt with the loss makes all of the post-disaster talk seem as cheap as ever. I never thought I'd resent the US flag, but seeing it on every car/designer store/infant in the nation makes a circus of a tragedy; ever a danger in a highly media oriented society. It was like everybody needed a piece of tragedy to emphasize their own largely anonymous lives. I keep my 9/11 memories of being in New York and losing a loved one close and private--it means more to keep it to myself than to wave it around like a badge of honor.

It's amazing what it takes to remind people how transient they are. It seems pretty apparent that we should grasp on to the life we have as hard as we can. But everybody tends to fall into false senses of security and self-absorbtion--so we can't see the forest for the trees....

[cathla143.livejournal.com]

I see so much post-9/11 kitsch, it's difficult to even write about it. Knowing how my family has dealt with the loss makes all of the post-disaster talk seem as cheap as ever. I never thought I'd resent the US flag, but seeing it on every car/designer store/infant in the nation makes a circus of a tragedy; ever a danger in a highly media oriented society. It was like everybody needed a piece of tragedy to emphasize their own largely anonymous lives.


I totally agree...

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I don't resent the US flag. I don't resent exalting our democratic values. I do resent non-democratic values disguised as patriotism.

We are none of us safe, none of us. This was true before 9/11, it is true now. We all die. We all should have realized that life is short. It's funny that it takes 9/11 to teach people that. It's worse that what it instead teaches people is to wave the flag.

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

I'm at the point where I resent our flag too. it's just another point of American complacency. Stick a F**ing flag on your car and make a STATEMENT--nevermind thinking about what that statement might actually BE.
9/11 didn't teach me that life is too short. I've known that all along. What it taught me instead is that life is too scary and depressing. That humanity never stops being inhumane.

[uscwriter.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the overuse of the flag. I watched the disaster from home here in NC, and know no one directly hurt. My heart hurts for those who lost loved ones. But to see the flag pop up on every vehicle and tshirt sickened me- it was like people were saying "Oh yeah. me too. I am an American and proud of it. I just forgot to announce it until now." I think being a proud American is best shown by one's actions and life, rather than a bumper sticker or bikini... It's like it's demeaning the flag's symbolism by placing it everywhere, rather than on a flagpole.
Carolinagirl

[asphalteden.livejournal.com]

I don't resent what the flag stands for or the original spirit behind America. I feel lucky daily to have achieved what I have, in spite of the odds.

I do resent people using tragedy as a means of advancing their political agendas, or as a step-up block to appear "feeling" and "sensitive."

Lucius Shepard wrote:

Or maybe we have become so bored with disaster, so removed from our actual responses, that we require these presidential iambics, this noble tailoring of dolor, in order to recognize a moment of true feeling.

I note that people have mentioned how scary and insecure our world is; and horrible, perhaps. I see that this is so. But the world is also grand and glorious, if you choose to interpret it that way. I don't believe we should hobble ourselves by only focusing on the tragedies--we must also remember the triumphs.

It is interesting to me that in some way, you can tell a lot about a person by how they feel and react to 9/11. But I suppose that's true of any disaster, personal or public.

I am reminded of a song off of OK Computer called "Airbag"

[yulbrynner.livejournal.com]

The lead singer was inspired to write it after getting out of his car after a near-miss traffic accident. He said that we should all thank God we are alive every time we arrive safely somewhere after being in a car. In truth, I don't need to have towers collapse to reminds me of my own morality - all I need to do is to try to change a CD in my car on an off ramp of a California superhighway to do that. Or for that matter - to be on the highway at all. I believe an awareness of one's own mortality is one of the greatest gifts one can have.

I have to admit that I got annoyed by all of the flag-waving and cheerleading - though many a friend of mine has made me feel guilty for it. On the one hand, it is an emotional response, and something that makes people feel better. On the other hand, it smacks of "me too", mindless nationalism, and groupthink - or to a degree - complacency - look at me, doing my bit to support the US. I guess i don't know what to think of it.

Re: I am reminded of a song off of OK Computer called "Airbag"

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

marstokyo made the same point also--one can certainly realize that life is too short on a freeway or in a hundred other ways.

I am a bit mixed on the 9/11 patriotism thing. I like to see people realize that the freedoms we do have, and the potential for a truly workable system, are worth protecting. I certainly have no sympathy, i.e., none, for the people who try to use the "we deserved it" line, as bashing our system in this way seems to me just boringly "chic". But when I hear jingoism rather than a grim realization that we'll have to do things we don't want to do, but should do them as minimally as possible, and as close to our ideal minimum as possible (i.e., warfare, security measures, etc.), then
I get discouraged. We had to do something effective in response to
9/11, but the accompanying xenophobia and human rights curtailments have been excessive.

I guess I come down that I want us to love our best American ideals, and a love for a country which enacts policies that excludes them in the name of jingo disinterests me.

Patriotism

[lonestarslp.livejournal.com]

When 9/11 happened, I was working at a university clinic that helped adults recover from stroke or brain-damage induced language problems. These guys and gals loved to come to this program because it was the only place that people understood that they could not communicate in a conventional way. I was in charge of the program the Friday after 9/11 and because I was still so emotional, I made little red white and blue ribbons for everybody.

When I got there, most of the group was wearing little flags, but they gladly accepted the ribbons as well. They were so pleased to have a way to clearly communicate their support for their country.

Many of the people sporting flags may be in the same position. Perhaps they are able to speak, but they still have trouble articulating their feelings and wearing the flag is a way to do that.

Re: Patriotism

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Now that's a good point, but I still want people to do a bit more than wave the flag and write c & w songs about blasting the foreigners....still, people do what they can, I know.

Awfully nice of you to make those ribbons.

Re: Patriotism

[lonestarslp.livejournal.com]

I have to say those guys that write the bad CW songs should know better! I agree about doing something positive..I remember on the same day we wore the ribbons, we had a current events discussion, but we limited it to positive articles on what people were trying to do to help. I think the helping and donations said so much more than a flag ever could. But I'll still be wearing red, white and blue. I look great in those colors! :)

Re: Patriotism

[yulbrynner.livejournal.com]

I think its all in one's attitude. I am generally skeptical about mass outpouring of emotion (i inherited that from my dad). In the case of these flags, ribbons, etc - my intitial feeling was - "yeah, that's an easy way to take care of things - put a flag on your car or a ribbon on your shirt and make yourself a part of the team - like rooting for a football team". But I am generally a skeptical person. Someone else might see the ribbons and see it as a small way of expressing the unexpressable. Its all in the eyes of the beholder, I guess.

Re: Patriotism

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Yes, attitude and intentions matter a lot to me in this context.