Differences
The main difference in these two quotes relating to the aspect of seeing the flaws of the present to see three futur is the act of truly seeing what is flawed. In the quote to the left the villagers can see lack of beauty in their small rodes, lack of strength in their floors. they see the flaws in the art, the mistrokes and what can be better. while in the quote to the right we see the misjudgment, a virgin ideal to what is there. without distinguishing flaws one cannot grow. we see a lack of identification to the understanding of what needs to change. Opposites of what is ideal is repstend form the story from beginning to end which is represented by these two quotes.
How do we balance faith in a better future with the awareness that our present circumstances are deeply flawed?
The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World
"THE FIRST CHILDREN who saw the dark and slinky bulge approaching through the sea let themselves think it was an enemy ship. Then they saw it had no flags or masts and they thought it was a whale. But when it washed up on the beach, they removed the clumps of seaweed, the jellyfish tentacles, and the remains of fish and flotsam, and only then did they see that it was a drowned man."
Here we see children, ears virgin to the truths of the world unable to distinguish a navy ship from a corpse. Only through the process of labor are they able to see the truth. only through the process of removing scum and weeds can they see the beauty or reality of the situation. This idea is true to how to see a better future one must be aware of their present circumstance. ONe can not see what the truth is without realizing there is scum in the first place. to see the man, the corpses, the beauty of life they had to be aware of this. the quote "they removed the clumps of seaweed, the jellyfish tentacles, and the remains of fish and flotsam, and only then did they see that it was a drowned man." This is to say with truth comes enlightenment. The Buddha realized a better way of life after being locked up and finally seeing a corpse, an old man, a diseased man, and a beat men. Was he able to even fathom the idea of nirvana. Pain and knowing of it creates light, only knowing what darkness is can we recognize the beauty of the sun. Through the securing of scum and weeds and all the blockers can one reach the truth, the soft part under the hard candy. We have to recognize the flaws in the present to see a better future.
"While they fought for the privilege of carrying him on their shoulders along the steep escarpment by the cliffs, men and women became aware for the first time of the desolation of their streets, the dryness of their courtyards, the narrowness of their dreams as they faced the splendor and beauty of their drowned man."
Flawless comes from an understanding of what can be better. what comes short is relative to where the finish line truly lays. The village starts out content, its sum is composed of 20 sum men and a few houses. To those who know nothing but of what they have no or no other better. The house seemed to be uniformed in the overall ordinaryness. While some fights may naturally occur such as the bounty of the fish it is overall the same. When this man comes they see nothing but greatness in his eyes. They see the man who spoke not with words but with hsi figure of what true greatness is. A snake knows not of the wild when kept in a small cage. The village knew nothing of greatness until they truly saw it. It takes a moment like that to dictate what better means for them. Faith of better and awareness go hand in hand. For the reasons stated above awareness comes from the flaw and the lack thereof. they balance this by looking up. the words "the mean and woman become aware for the first time" dictates this exactly. Before there was this greatness in their eyes they knew nothing of the words. People become better at art through comparisons and change standing still and isolated does nothing but prevent you from moving.
These ideas are similar in the sense of turlying being able to appreciate the light once you cna experience the dark from the flaws in our life to the flaws in others we can truly see where improvements need to be made. We can only see this with this full recognition of the inherited bad or flawed. I wouldn't care fro good movies if i have never seen a bad one, we can not see improvement or true beauty without it.
Two Kinds
“And after I had played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.”
This theme is further illustrated when Amy goes back to her mom's house after her death and plays the piano again. Amy wrote, “And after I had played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.” She had been playing two halves of a song her whole life. She played them through separate tempos and speeds and never truly saw how they were on ein the same. She saw herself as a beacon for her mother's success, she saw her anger and herself as different beings. She never paid enough attention to the little annoying aspects of life thus her inability to see the full picture. She played the notes in somewhat sporadic fashion messing up frequently thus her trips making it harder to see what's ahead of her. She never saw her mom as trying to help her due to her purposeful mess ups. She saw each test her mother gave as a way to better her mother not herself. She never read between the lines enough or persit enough to realize how her mother sang the saem song as her. She was blinf to beauty so all she saw were pieces. One can only see the end to the maze once they recognize there in one. One can only learn to thrive once they realize they are not.
“But he must have been younger than I thought, since he lived with his mother and was not yet married."
Amy Tan was never able to see the full picture to truly anything in her life. She saw an angry mom who wanted the best for herself and used her as an outlet for that. She saw herself as who she is as a finite persona. She never read between the lines and truly looked fatter than the most prevalent of things. A We see her ability to see the full picture of life in the quote, “But he must have been younger than I thought, since he lived with his mother and was not yet married." This man is clearly an elder, he is retired and dead. Amy measures life in success due to her bring up, thus a man who is not married and has not flown from the nest. She doesn't see the wrinkles in his face yet the success he has had from the money in his pockets form the location of his home. Amy tan speculation on his age in congregants to not yet being married which is a normalized cornerstone in life shows to her the importance in life is measured through the success of a person and how you grow when you success does. Her awareness of his fall and her pity shines a light on what a better life is. We watch the my 600 pound life and teen mom to see examples of what is bad, what we should not do. we cant recolonize true art without seeing bad. Her realization of the pain shows her what she wants and what she thinks is the true future.
The Problem with Living in the Present (Live Binder)
During global warming and curtain issues of today focusing on only the present is nothing but short sighted towards the overall picture. Our actions each day intubate an overall melting pot of bab environmental activities performed by humans. Focusing on the present may sound caulking and bettering it would lead to nothing more than cause because of the selfishness of the grand scheme. Only by looking at failure can we find a better future. only we can examine how to be better, how we can make a difference, can we succeed in the realm of a better tomorrow. We learn from our mistakes so once we have made them we have to exell.
