Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Revisited: Feelings have disappeared from human experience

It is not only species of animal that die out, but whole species of feeling. And if you are wise you will never pity the past for what it did not know, but pity yourself for what it did.
—John Fowles
If you forget the excellent conversation on the blog, you can find it here.

It was raining today and, as hundreds of cars splashed by, I thought of another feeling that for many has died out: The unique joy of playing in the puddles as you walk to school in the rain.

I don't mean this to be commentary—just funny—but I thought this would be an appropriate time to add this picture:

Just to ensure that I'm only presenting this American life and not commentary, I'll add another feeling that many will never feel—that bitter hatred of their mother when forced to wear boots when walking to school in the rain.

3 comments:

Big Myk said...

I followed the link to our earlier discussion and I was pretty much floored. What an amazingly far-reaching discussion and what insights!

It struck me that it was written in an idyllic time -- before the Fall when troubles were few and we had more time on our hands -- when people took time to listen to what others had to say, thought deeply about things, and communicated, not in soundbites, but real sentences and paragraphs.

Big Myk said...

Sing a song of long ago
When things could grow
And days flowed quietly
The air was clean and you could see
And folks were nice to you.

"Would you like to come over for tea
With the missus and me?"
It's a real nice way
To spend the day
In Dayton, Ohio
On a lazy Sunday afternoon in 1903

Randy Newman

James R said...

You mean, before Facebook?