"In college, I used to underline sentences that struck me, that made me look up from the page. They were not necessarily the same sentences the professors pointed out, which would turn up for further explication on an exam. I noted them for their clarity, their rhythm, their beauty and their enchantment. For surely it is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a place, a person, a situation, in all its specificity and dimensions. To affect us and alter us, as profoundly as real people and things do.
I remember reading a sentence by Joyce, in the short story “Araby.” It appears toward the beginning. “The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed.” I have never forgotten it. This seems to me as perfect as a sentence can be. It is measured, unguarded, direct and transcendent, all at once. It is full of movement, of imagery. It distills a precise mood. It radiates with meaning and yet its sensibility is discreet.
When I am experiencing a complex story or novel, the broader planes, and also details, tend to fall away. Rereading them, certain sentences are what greet me as familiars. You have visited before, they say when I recognize them. We encounter books at different times in life, often appreciating them, apprehending them, in different ways. But their language is constant. The best sentences orient us, like stars in the sky, like landmarks on a trail."
- My Life's Opinions, Jhumpa LahiriSometimes, I wish I could write better, drown myself in pools and pools of beautifully crafted words. But unfortunately, I lack this ability and so my words never seem to hit the right note. I wonder what it feels like though, to write something that people read and go 'that's exactly what I thought', to be able to stir up such deep amazing emotions in people, yet so effortlessly. It must be a gift. And one that should be shared with everyone. Because the one thing we humans need most is to know that we're not alone.
Anyhow, I'm pretty glad this week's over, been breaking down so much I really don't quite know what's got into me. I think it's mainly because I put so much at stake for h3 that I really feel quite the idiot. There's so much of this thing called Life that I missed while cooped up in this wormhole called Biodiversity. And it's kind of ironic, isn't it? That after a whole term and a half of biodiversity, I should be greatly enlightened about the living world. Yet here I am, thoroughly confused about Life and feeling like the most shallow person ever. Or so my narcissistic self says. Ah really need to get a grip on myself; my problems are teeny they don't even deserve to be problems at all, not when there are millions out there with much bigger problems than mine.
It's crazy really how much we sympathize yet how little we empathize.
And there are the people who make things happen, without much of both at all.
Desperately need to empathize more, only through empathy can the things we make happen actually impact people. And impact them in the right way.
