July 24, 2009

  • Xanga Writing Contest Top 10: LandLockedEyes

    Please visit LandLockedEyes and tell her if you liked her post! I will close comments, and link you directly to their site so they get the comment benefit.

    I was merely an eight year old child at the time, happy but shy nonetheless. I never had a need to tell my family much about my accomplishments, I never wanted to either, for fear they might laugh or disapprove.

    Anyway, it was the last day of school and we'd had a class quiz, which somehow, I'd won and been rewarded with five dollars and a plastic glow in the dark insect of my choice. I must've been feeling overly confident because I rushed home to tell my Mum about the success I'd had and show her the prizes I'd won. And then I got cocky.
    "Mum, I won a quiz today at school!" I said to her, as I showed her my prizes excitedly.
    "Cool." she said, busy in the kitchen.
    "I can answer any question you ask me, ask me something, anything!"
    She stood there stirring a pot-full of what would be our dinner that night, thinking. As I look back, it probably didn't take her long to come up with her question because a few seconds later, she turned to me and said "Okay then. What's a blowjob?"
    I'd never heard that word in my life, didn't know what it meant and by the laughter erupting from my mother, figured I shouldn't ask her.
    Not only had she proved me wrong against myself, she'd done that, embarrassed me and shut me up all in one go, which was exactly why I didn't tell her anything then, and limit the things I tell her now.
    And that was the day I learnt that despite what you think you know, you really know nothing at all.

    Now that I'm older, I really appreciate that experience, no matter how strange it made me feel on the day. I think it's important and valuble to know that, outside of yourself and your own situations, you really don't know anything at all. Of course you can talk to people about things, you can share your knowledge and do all the research in the world, you can form your own opinions on things, but still, in reality, you know nothing at all.

    You don't know how the homeless man on the corner is feeling, with his ripped jeans and rough skin. You can only assume he's cold, worn out and poor, which may not even be true. You don't know why Isaac Newton decided to do all those things with physics and come up with new "laws", you can only wonder and be grateful for the sake of the world, that he did.
    You don't know why some people act like this and others act like that, you don't know anything outside of yourself.

    It's like that for everyone, you only know what you feel, and nothing else. And what else you do claim to know, in the end, won't matter at all.

    I liked this essay for the line about the homeless man. It reminded me of the great JRR Tolkien quote "Not all who wander are lost."   Yes, sometimes I can guess what people are thinking or feeling...but other times, I guess wrong, and the consequences can be harsh.