Review the Preface and pp. 6-13 of Barry and The Death of Ivan Illyich. What is the meaning of life? What are you not realizing about life? How might an examination of life inform your living? Answer this question, in part, by thinking about your own obituary. What do you need to do now in order to have that obituary? Feel free to reference Barry, Palmer & Tolstoy in your response.
The song Sparkle and Shine by Steve Earle is about 3 minutes and 17 seconds too long... Thanks Dr. Kate
ReplyDeleteLife, in light of my observations, is a quest to have a “justified death” or in other words, a comprehensive obituary. We must fill our lives with people, events, occupations, and general surroundings that enhance our enjoyment and who satisfy our desire to reach our highest potential. During life, we must utilize what we are given to establish a foundation; once such a foundation is established, we can thrive on our own and better ourselves through our decisions and our pursuits.
ReplyDeleteWe must understand, though, that a fruitful life results from a balance between productivity and enjoyment. I feel like what I am not completely realizing about life is this precisely—that we must learn to balance. In examining my own life, I realize that I am almost narrow-minded when it comes to living life. I all too often forget to enjoy life and have fun. To me, it seems like there are forces from all directions—the poor economy, pressure from family and friends, and pressure from myself—pushing me to thrive in school and to work to get a firm financial foundation and to gain the necessary experience I need for a career. I really need to understand that I must balance and more often engage in social activities and participate in family events, rather than ignoring them or making excuses so I can continue to work or do something school-related. This, to me, rings a bell about Ivan Ilyich, though my case isn’t nearly as severe. Reading the novella convinced me that life is almost fruitless if one cannot obtain the balance between life and work. Ivan was so inundated with his work that he never took the time to participate in family or to simply enjoy himself. I now know, after reading Ivan Ilyich, that I do not want to become like that. I must begin to head in the other direction.
When I die, hopefully decades from now, I want my obituary to contain survivorship notices about my wife, children, and grandchildren. I want the reader of my obituary to see that I was a well-rounded individual whose business successes and whose philanthropic ventures and service made me an overall good individual.
What I want my obituary to read is that I was happy and that I made others happy as well. That what was most important to me was reflected in my life and that is my family and close friends. That I strove to make a difference in peoples lives through my career - which hopefully is Speech Pathology. I'm not that person that wants to sit at in a cubicle all day. I want to make an impact on a child's life, by helping them be able to live a better life communicating better. That I had passion, I was laid back, but not too much. That I was fun! That I didn't take life too, too seriously. I often get caught up in school and work and forget about having fun, but at the same time, the people I am surrounded by at school and work are people that I do care about, and people that I am so grateful for knowing. I agree with Ben, it is all about balancing. Ivan Ilyich taught us a good lesson in that we cant use work as an excuse to get away from problems. He also taught us that keeping a good relationship with family should be the utmost importance, because when you are on your death bed, you will have no one to comfort you.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the meaning of life? I think it varies for every person, and what their goals in life are. Meaning of life for me is to somehow make a positive impact on others lives. I am sure that when/if I become a mother, that the meaning of my life will be surrounded around my children.
I feel like I am on the right path to do what makes me happy. There are always road bumps, but I am grateful for the family and friends that I have, because without them, I dont know what my life would be. They are the ones that help and guide me into the right path.
Karlie's dream obituary:
ReplyDeleteKarlie unceasingly shared the loved of Christ to everyone she came into contact with.
In class today we talked about how people die the way we live, and this got me thinking about I live my life today and whether I would want to die that way. And while this question does not seem to be relative to the question asked above, I have to say that when I die I hope my obituary reflects that I lived the kind of life that would make me happy. In fact, I would hope I have lived the kind of life that when I die my presence on the planet is missed without the need for someone to read my obituary. When people read an obituary, I think alot of times people look for things like money and the family left behind, and while I don't disagree that those things can add to a quality of life I don't a purpose in life that makes. I think purpose in life has a lot to do with not what you leave behind whether family or money, but instead how you impact the people you meet in your lifetime. I think more about my funeral than my obituary, in that I hope everyone there remembers me for something good.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the meaning of life should be to live thoroughly and happily, and sharing that happiness with my family and friends. I would hope that in my obituary that anyone who read it would understand that I worked hard for whatever I accomplish in my life, and that I left behind a life that was full and joyous. I hope that it would read that I made a positive impact on everyone I encountered throughout my life. To achieve this, I believe I have to continue keeping the solid relationships that I established and provide some sort of happiness to those around me. Honestly, I think more about my funeral and what I would leave behind for those close to me than my obituary, but I hope all of these provide an positive impact for those who knew me.
ReplyDeleteI use this phrase a lot, but this is what i believe the meaning of life means. I believe it means to live your life to the fullest. You only get one chance to live and you might as well live it to the fullest. By this phrase I mean whatever you truly believe what living life to the fullest is. Like in Tolstoy, Ivan may have truly believed that living life to the fullest consisted of constantly working until he reaches the highest ranks and is being paid the highest. Now that's not what most people want, but to Ivan that was maybe how he lived his life to the fullest. We all have different opinions about what was a good life, but in the end we all want to be satisfied with ourselves at the end of our lives and want to be able to say we truly lived out our lives the best way we knew how. This may be by helping others and forming great relationships with others that will last a lifetime. We all go through are ups and downs, but it is through those ups and downs we find out who we really are and who will be there to help you.
ReplyDeleteYou only live once. You only live a short amount of time. You only get to interact with a super small percent of people on the Earth. But yet, it is YOUR life. You have to accept all of these things and be thankful for everything. You have to live your life, regardless of duration or purpose, the way in which is the best way possible. While I don't think there is a "best" way to live, I think that all people should follow good, moral, human will and live kindly with others so that your life will reflect in good memories. You want to be remembered as a good person, not as a hateful person. Plus, if you are hateful, then you probably have no one close to rememeber you anyway, I guess.
ReplyDeleteSo basically, I try to live the best I can and I want to treat all people in the best way possible to live my little life the best I can! At the end of my time, I want to be remembered. I want my story to inspire others to do great things and I don't want to be just another name in the books. Though I don't like to think of obituaries, I do like the book: "Obit: Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People Who Led Extraordinary Lives" by Jim Sheeler. It is interesting and so people should read it. I want to be an ordinary, extraordinary person remembered by those who live after I do.