A Dream Pang

by Robert Frost

I had withdrawn in forest, and my song
Was swallowed up in leaves that blew away;
And to the forest edge you came one day
(this was my dream) and looked and pondered long,
But did not enter, though the wish was strong:
You shook your pensive head as who should say,
"I dare not--too far in his footsteps stray--
He must seek me would he undo the wrong."

Not far, but near, I stood and saw it all,
Behind low boughs the trees let down outside;
And the sweet pang it cost me not to call
and tell you that I saw does still abide.
But 'tis not true that thus I dwelt aloof,
For the wood wakes, and you are here for proof.

Batman and Spiderman

I recently watched Spiderman and Dark Knight. I thought that Spiderman was more suitable for children and teenagers, while Dark Knight was more for adults. Spiderman deals with issues of identity, such as what a good person is and what power is for. While these are important and fundamental issues, at some point people have to resolve them and start doing stuff already. This is where ethical issues begin to crop up, like means vs ends, revenge etc, which are themes that Dark Knight explores.

Random quiz: Go with your first instincts

1. FIRST, WRITE NUMBERS 1 THROUGH 11 IN A COLUMN
2. THEN, BESIDE NUMBERS 1 AND 2, WRITE DOWN ANY 2 NUMBERS YOU WANT
3. BESIDES THE 3 AND 7, WRITE DOWN THE NAMES OF MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX
4. WRITE ANYONE'S NAME (LIKE FRIENDS OR FAMILY) IN THE 4TH, 5TH, AND 6TH SPOT
5. WRITE DOWN FOUR SONG TITLES IN 8, 9, 10, AND 11

1. YOU MUST TELL (THE NUMBER IN SPACE 2) PEOPLE ABOUT THIS GAME
2. THE PERSON IN SPACE 3 IS THE ONE YOU LOVE
3. THE PERSON IN 7 IS ONE YOU LIKE BUT CAN'T WORK OUT
4. YOU CARE MOST ABOUT THE PERSON YOU PUT IN 4
5. THE PERSON YOU NAME IN NUMBER 5 IS THE ONE WHO KNOWS YOU VERY WELL
6. THE PERSON YOU NAMED IN 6 IS YOUR LUCKY STAR
7. THE SONG IN 8 IS THE SONG THAT MATCHES WITH THE PERSON IN NUMBER 3
8. THE TITLE IN 9 IS THE SONG FOR THE PERSON IN 7
9. THE 10TH SPACE IS THE SONG THAT TELLS YOU MOST ABOUT YOUR MIND
10. AND 11 IS THE SONG TELLING HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT LIFE

Ender's Game, Page 1

"Same with the sister. And there are doubts about him. He's too malleable. Too willing to submerge himself in someone else's will."
"Not if the other person is his enemy."
"So what do we do? Surround him with enemies all the time?"
"If we have to."

Quote of the day

"Life always carries a fatal dimension and some hint of having fallen into a trap, except that this trap does not strangle us, but leaves to life a margin of decision and always permits us, out of the imposed situation, to achieve an elegant solution and to forge for ourselves a beautiful life." --Ortega y Gasset

"Do not panic"

--Surely the most scary words a person could hear, unless spoken by Jesus

Context is everything

I remember hearing this song at an event to help victims of abuse. Normally I would have thought it was a rather cheesy song, but in this context, it was really poignant

So you could give me wings to fly
And catch me if I fall
Or pull the stars down from the sky
So I could wish on them all
But I couldn't ask for more
'Cause your love is the greatest gift of all

How Lincoln's depression helped him

Learning from Lincoln

Shenk gives compelling historical evidence for Lincoln's life long struggle with depression but also shows that the depression gave Lincoln three key qualities.

Firstly it gave him clarity. For example, Lincoln saw slavery for what it was, something "founded in the selfishness of man's nature (and), opposition to it, ___his love for justice." Shenk correlates Lincoln's clarity with modern psychiatric literature that recognizes "depressive realism, the sadder but wiser effect." Pain gives clarity.

Next, Lincoln's depression gave him creativity. His literary prowess is well documented, the Gettysburg address being but one example of his work. Shenk concludes that Lincoln's "overwhelming melancholy fed into a supple creative power, which allowed him not merely to see the truth of his circumstances but to express it in a stirring, meaningful way." Shenk notes that the correlation between mental illness and creativity is fairly well documented.

Finally, Shenk sees that Lincoln's suffering kept him humble. The many griefs of his life fed this sense of humility. Lincoln was always clear that God was the captain of life and that he was at most a sailor allowed to work on the deck of God's ship.

...

Shenk concludes that "Lincoln didn't do great work because he solved the problem of his melancholy; the problem of his melancholy was all the more fuel for the fire of his great work." One can only wonder as to what would have happened if Lincoln had access to Prozac.

The relationship between wisdom and age

Generally, it is believed that people become wiser with age, and all things being equal, I would agree that this is true because the more experiences a person has, the wiser the person will become. However, I would argue that if people are close-minded and always follow traditions, then as they age, they will become more stupid because they will just accumulate more and more illogical ideas about life. By the time they die, they would have become walking oxymorons.

To those who may have come here after a long time

I'm not as angsty as I used to be. But I'm still Canopy, older now. Thank you for being a part of who I am today. Thank you for your kind words. Thank you for your words of wisdom on life, religion, love, hope. Thank you for sharing your quirky observations. I have enjoyed discussing things with you. I wish you well, and hope the intervening years have been as blessed for you as they have been for me.