This week I was searching for a poem to choose, and came across Clint Smith’s “When people say ‘we have made it through far worse’”. This poem immediately grabbed my attention. It took me a couple times reading it over until I finally understood the full meaning. Clint Smith asks the audience if we can finally stop being overly optimistic and unrealistic?! To say that we will all get what we get and that everything will turn out fine in the end is a lie, and he--as well as myself--is over these cliché sayings that people use for false comfort.
The most powerful line I found in this poem was as follows: “There is no solace in rearranging language to make a different word tell the same lie.” Wow is this powerful! People are constantly trying to exhaust this idea that the universe is always in our favor. This is just not always the case, and some people refuse to accept that. When are we going to stop lying to ourselves that we believe what we say? That the universe is on our side and everything's meant to happen? And once we do, will we be left with a realist society...or a depressed one?
Now, this isn’t to say that our world will not take a turn for the better one day, Smith concludes. It is just to say, we might not be standing the day it does. Most of us will not be alive to see it, and that’s a reality we need to begin to accept without discomfort the talk of “death” innately gives us.
Wow that's a really powerful message. It can be hard to think about how the world isn't always good and perfect. When you open your thoughts to the negative it can be hard to see positively again. Though I do think that we need to try to see more realistically, I just feel that it can still be positive.
ReplyDeleteI agree in order for us to grow and move on from this heart breaking year, it is crucial for Americans to acknowledge the severity of the situation we have endured. Once you recognize pain and anguish it becomes easier to see the light in the world. The worst thing you could do is be naive and think that there is only good in the world.
ReplyDelete“There is no solace in rearranging language to make a different word tell the same lie.” WOW!! Just... wow
ReplyDeleteThe message is so powerful! Like Sarah said, Americans do need to understand how impactful this situation is. I think people should be optimistic and positive, but not to the point where they are innocent and naive.
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