Daylight Savings
Yesterday I was able to enjoy a long and glorious run by myself while taking in the brilliant, glimmering Chicago skyline. God, times like that make me absolutely love this city. I tried to repeat the same thing today, except on my bike, but most of the time was spent hunched over fighting huge wind gusts. Fun stuff. But it was still glorious and still made me glad to be alive.
During yesterday's run, going south, I reached the newly-constructed part of the path near Diversey Harbor where you turn left and see the shoreline rising up. The water was particularly beautiful because it was absolutely still and there were no boats ruining the view. With the sun gleaming on the water, it is a truly glorious sight that would give anyone pause. As I looked a little more closely at the path, however, I saw a crow picking and poking at the dead carcass of a rat. The contrast between the crow's brutality and ugliness against the skyline's beauty made me appreciate that distinct representation of life in general. Just when it seems to be perfect and beautiful and glorious, something awful and terrifying is lurking in the background (or foreground, in this case). That is life, isn't it?
I was also thinking about the word "lonely" or its derivatives (lone, alone, loneliness, and others but I am neither a linguistics nor English major, so leave me alone -- alone! haha). It has such negative connotations, while a term such as "solitude" seeem less pejorative. Why is that? I guess my point is that though I cherish my "alone" time and know many others who cannot get enough of it and crave it, human beings simply weren't meant to be alone. We seek company eventually, and as demonstrated in the connotations that words such as "lonely" or "alone" have, being alone is generally viewed as a negative thing. For me, 9 times out of 10 I don't want to talk on the phone and I don't want to be out with people, but I'm beginning to realize that's not necessarily something to be proud of. The other night I hung out with an old friend, doing nothing in particular. While I would have been fine if this friend cancelled on me, I thought that night after we did nothing in particular, how nice it is to have friends and to have company. One day I will seek the company of people and will realize that they are no longer there.
During yesterday's run, going south, I reached the newly-constructed part of the path near Diversey Harbor where you turn left and see the shoreline rising up. The water was particularly beautiful because it was absolutely still and there were no boats ruining the view. With the sun gleaming on the water, it is a truly glorious sight that would give anyone pause. As I looked a little more closely at the path, however, I saw a crow picking and poking at the dead carcass of a rat. The contrast between the crow's brutality and ugliness against the skyline's beauty made me appreciate that distinct representation of life in general. Just when it seems to be perfect and beautiful and glorious, something awful and terrifying is lurking in the background (or foreground, in this case). That is life, isn't it?
I was also thinking about the word "lonely" or its derivatives (lone, alone, loneliness, and others but I am neither a linguistics nor English major, so leave me alone -- alone! haha). It has such negative connotations, while a term such as "solitude" seeem less pejorative. Why is that? I guess my point is that though I cherish my "alone" time and know many others who cannot get enough of it and crave it, human beings simply weren't meant to be alone. We seek company eventually, and as demonstrated in the connotations that words such as "lonely" or "alone" have, being alone is generally viewed as a negative thing. For me, 9 times out of 10 I don't want to talk on the phone and I don't want to be out with people, but I'm beginning to realize that's not necessarily something to be proud of. The other night I hung out with an old friend, doing nothing in particular. While I would have been fine if this friend cancelled on me, I thought that night after we did nothing in particular, how nice it is to have friends and to have company. One day I will seek the company of people and will realize that they are no longer there.
posted by Me at
3:19 PM
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