it feels like, as a society, we are taught to value nouns. we are constantly striving to obtain the nouns in life. people, places, things. money, love, happiness. we like to collect things and judge others on the size of their collections. i'm better than her because of the clothes i'm wearing. i'm jealous of him because he lives in a bigger house.
verbs are only accepted as the necessary way to get to a noun. the more verbs you go through, the better the noun, but the verbs are otherwise disposable. happiness is better than being happy. we go around looking for the love of our life, forgetting to actually be in love. we strive for knowledge, but the act of learning is something we do grudgingly. we want peace but don't want to get along. actions are too common. they are the things that are better hidden under the rug, pushed into the shadow of the trophy we can put on display.
your verb is only accepted if you have the nouns to back it up. a person who writes is not a writer until s/he has a book to prove it. a person who cooks is not chef without a restaurant to cook in. we need a ribbon at the end of a race to validate running around the track.
why can't we just be content with verbs? why does the end have to justify the means to make the journey worthwhile? why can't we just enjoy the journey itself?
when we value life more than living, it's easy to fear death and forget that every minute we are dying.
*Part of Your World - The Little Mermaid Soundtrack
verbs are only accepted as the necessary way to get to a noun. the more verbs you go through, the better the noun, but the verbs are otherwise disposable. happiness is better than being happy. we go around looking for the love of our life, forgetting to actually be in love. we strive for knowledge, but the act of learning is something we do grudgingly. we want peace but don't want to get along. actions are too common. they are the things that are better hidden under the rug, pushed into the shadow of the trophy we can put on display.
your verb is only accepted if you have the nouns to back it up. a person who writes is not a writer until s/he has a book to prove it. a person who cooks is not chef without a restaurant to cook in. we need a ribbon at the end of a race to validate running around the track.
why can't we just be content with verbs? why does the end have to justify the means to make the journey worthwhile? why can't we just enjoy the journey itself?
when we value life more than living, it's easy to fear death and forget that every minute we are dying.
*Part of Your World - The Little Mermaid Soundtrack
i loved this untiiil the last sentence. that just depressed me and freaked me out.
ReplyDeletethis is really nice. like it's one of those things that makes so much sense im going back to tell my sister about it, like it's going into my conversation reserve for casual meetings with people.
ReplyDeleteanonymous hippopotamus: that last sentence was actually not part of the original post. i wrote it earlier in the day but couldn't think of a lyrics to write. the last line came to me when i was in the shower so i added it and then decided on a title.
ReplyDeleter.: i feel special that something from my head made it into your conversation reserve :).
Funny how this exact song illustrates those same notions every time I hear it.
ReplyDeleteI hear it at the beginning of every semester when we introduce ourselves to the class and ultimately state our goals - a house, a marriage, a job, a degree, etc, etc. And I'm always alone in thinking, but because I'm groomed to follow the herd, never saying, that my goal is to be happy however that may come.
great minds...
ReplyDeleteand i think people are scared to have abstract goals. it's easier to go after a house and know when you've succeeded than to say you want happiness and know with certainty that you've reached the finish line. oh, and we never get to state our goals. we always have to say our majors, year, and "something interesting about ourselves." i always manage to feel as uninteresting as an oven manual after the first day of every semester.
Yes, yes, yes.
ReplyDeleteIt's sort of like the journey is better than the destination but a little less cliche, you know? Your words are prettier anyway.
I like verbs. I wish I could verb up my life. Nay, I will verb up. I think verb up could be the new go green. Let's do it. Verb up!
i've always been a fan of the journey. i tend to like going places more than actually being there, if that makes any sense. and verb up kind of reminds me of those nickelodeon commercials that said "verb: it's what you do" to get kids to stop being lazy and go outside. everyone should definitely verb up, though.
ReplyDeleteThat's cute. Maybe I should get it tattooed on my finger "verb up" as a mental slap in the face/permanent post-it kind of thing.
ReplyDelete