Lesson #7

Over the course of my sixteen years of life, I have began to realize that we never know what is going on in anyone else's head. Almost everybody lives their life self-absorbed in one way or another; its not that human beings are ultimately selfish, I genuinely believe that a lot of self-absorption comes from a fear of being rejected by society, not necessarily that we think we are the center of the universe. While reading Song of Solomon I noticed a common theme of everybody constantly worrying about themselves. They all seemed to push their own agendas with the idea that the world should adapt to that individuals way of thinking. But then I started to think about how our vanity really affects us. "Too much tail. All the jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can't nobody fly with all that shit that weighs you down." It was my opinion that the "jewelry" that the bird was wearing, was alluding to the theme of vanity throughout the book. Although that didn't seem to necessarily be the theme, that was the idea that stuck with me. I think that we all wear jewelry in our lives, because I don't think anybody really knows how to live without it. I think our jewelry are the things that we constantly think about within ourselves, whether that is our insecurities, our desires, or our resentment. For me I am always obsessed with having things organized and stable, and I would consider that part of the jewelry I wear. Guitar said that we have to take off our jewelry in order to fly, but I don't know that we necessarily can. I think that some of what "weighs us down" is what makes us who we are. Without that I don't know how we could all be individuals. I also don't think that humans should be able to "fly". Although I recognize that was used as a metaphor for freedom, there is a reason that birds can fly and we cannot. Humans are different than birds; we are made with more complicated thoughts and emotion, and I think that is part of why people can't fly; very honestly I would choose to have the life that I have, full of consuming emotions and constant thoughts, than to be considered free and loose all that. This relates back to David Foster Wallace's idea that people should live life with a selfless attitude. I am truly not convinced that there is any such thing as selfless. Even when we are doing things for other people, we are doing those things because they make us feel good about ourselves. I think the only real way to embrace the human experience is to accept that we are not made to fly, because if we begin to fly, we are no longer human.

Lesson #7: There is a reason that humans are made the way they are.