Hello! I have a post I’m really looking forward to planned for today. But first… a useless summary of what’s new: School is the same, high school golf has started again and the first tournament is in two days, our new floors are in but we can’t go back to using the whole house yet because of the trim that needs to be painted and reinstalled, and also we have a new puppy that is deaf (literally), noisy, nippy, and untrained in general. In other words, everything is normal at my house.
But that is not the subject of my post. The subject of my post is sayings that I like and use. And also sayings that I have altered because I dislike them. As well as one saying that I don’t like. Anyway, let’s get started!
My favorite saying is actually not technically a saying. It is a quote from the movie “Kubo and the Two Strings.” Incidentally, that is also my favorite movie of all time. (“All time” is defined as this school year.) Anyway, the quote is, “We grow stronger, the world grows more dangerous. Life has a funny way of keeping things balanced.” Now, I am talking about an animated kids’ movie here, so in real life I like to replace “dangerous” with “challenging.” Either way, I love this quote because I used to feel like if anything felt harder than it did before, it was because Ihad gotten weaker. However, this quote says that you only improve, but life keeps pace with your changes. I like that idea. I don’t think my life is any easier for me than it was when I was born. I have always felt challenged by life, no matter my situation. However, those challenges change from year to year and from day to day. If someone put me in the situations I am in now two years ago, or even one year ago, I would be unable to maintain that fragile balance between struggling and succeeding. I would be completely swamped! But now I can cope with my life—not easily, mind you, but I manage. If you were to reverse that situation and put me in a situation from a few years ago, I would not find that situation challenging. However, when I was in second grade, second grade was justas challenging as high school.
This is only partially related to my post, but I feel I should include it. My mother uses a kind of visual analogy that I think has a similar point as the quote does. She says life is like a series of overlapping triangles. The previous triangle’s point touches the present triangle’s base. We are traveling through these triangles. Every time we overcome a challenge or learn a life lesson, we travel into a new triangle. We think that we have way more room than before because instead of being squished into the skinny point of a triangle, we are in the nice, spacious base of a triangle. This makes us happy. However, we never stop moving forward, and as life goes on we are squished into the point of a triangle again. This does not make us happy. Then, after an often uncomfortable transition, we enter into the base of a new triangle. This cycle repeats itself forever.
Interestingly, whenever I think about this quote from “Kubo and the Two Strings,” I also think of the novel The Poisonwood Bible. I have no idea why.
One saying I have altered is “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” I believe that there is a “price” for everything. Sometimes it isn’t even a price you notice, and sometimes it is a price you like to pay. Sometimes it is a price that you find unpleasant, and it causes you to regret having anything to do with that “lunch.” Therefore, in some respects I consider that saying valid. However, I feel it does not tell the whole story, in a way. I think it would make more sense if the saying went, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to pay.” In my experience, there’s almost always someone who will “buy you lunch,” so to speak. Therefore, while there are consequences to everything, that doesn’t necessarily mean that consequence will affect you.
Finally, a saying I do not like, which is odd because it initially seems to align with my beliefs. This saying is… “Go with the flow.” I do not want to go with the flow. I want to go with what I feel is right. What is this flow, anyway? Is it what the majority of people are doing? In that case, I don’t think it is rightto follow this idiom. I mean, sure, there are a lot of people who are doing the right thing. But on the other hand, I think that there are some things out there that I will not go along with under any circumstances. The traditional school system, for example. Don’t get me wrong—I love learning and school. However, there are some glaring issues with the system, and I won’t be able to change anything if I just “go with the flow.” If “the flow” is like a river, I want to be a trickle of water that is slowly wearing away its own stream bed.
I hope you enjoyed this post. I certainly enjoyed writing it! Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s lunchtime, and if I don’t get to the food soon there won’t be any left!
-Birdie