MPH: ..."And I think—Look, we’re physical objects, we think of ourselves as these kind of free-floating brains, but the brain is such a little part. It’s way smaller than we like to think. We think we’re these important human beings. We’re not animals or anything. But what did we come out of? What are we made out of? We’re made of the same stuff as out there… In the end I operate from a belief, however unspoken, that I’m just a normal Joe. I’m not any one thing, I can’t be held to any one subject. I never could. I had to leave graduate school."
i believe that what she is trying to say is that we aren't all we make ourselves seem. We are animals that have come from the earth and evolved but we forget that. We seem to think we are some sort of species that just appeared but the fact is that we had to come from somewhere and we evolved from other species over time. She is trying to say that she is no more important than the next person and that we can't compare ourselves to others because we are all different.
MHP:"…. In the past three days I read things in three completely separate areas of thought about how if we can’t acknowledge something then we can’t change it. That’s the basis of psychotherapy. It must be brought into consciousness to do anything about it. If you choose to let it remain hidden you can’t do anything about it, and ultimately that’s not accepting responsibility. You know: I didn’t do it, therefore I can’t change it. I feel like all this stuff was almost dumped on people in the middle of the night. Every morning somebody wakes up and there’s been a sixteen-wheeler out back leaving things or changing things or bringing things or things have disappeared and the only thing you can do is go, “God, rats,” and that’s it. That’s what we’re given. I don’t know a single person—and it’s not just because I only know people like myself—I’ve never heard anybody say, you know, “I’m so happy that that farm is now a subdivision. That’s beautiful.”
In this quotation I think she is saying that if we acknowledge the past and what has happened we can do something to change it. If we just sit back and let the world change around us then we will never have a say in what happens and life will pass us by. In the end when she mentions about how the farm is changed into a subdivision, she makes it obvious that she doesn't like change just like in her book. I think that she says this in unison with the book about change and how you have to acknowledge the past to change what could happen in the future. She says that if you don't acknowledge it and you just sit around then you aren't taking responsibility which i agree with. You can make change if you try.
MHP: "How many times have you heard someone say they’ve gone back home and it’s changed or it’s gone? I mean, people weep over this. Is it sadness or is it nostalgia? Why is nostalgia such a bad thing? I mean, nostalgia is a longing to return. If you really loved where you came from, if, in essence, you really loved yourself—because that’s what created you—how can you not want that to exist? It’s like wanting your parents keep living. Is it nostalgia when you cry when your parents die? The bad kind of nostalgia is getting lost in it and never leaving. My point in writing about those three places was to say, “Aha, but guess what? I get nostalgic about
every place.”"
I agree with her when she says that the place you came from in essence created you. You are who you are because of where you came from. Whether or not people choose to believe the place you grew up has an affect on who you are as a person so I agree with her on that.
Is nostalgia such a bad thing?
I believe that nostalgia isn't so bad. It keeps us remembering the things that made an impact on us. If we don't feel sadness when we think about something in our past that doesn't exist then clearly it didn't make that much of an impact on us. We remember from nostalgia. it is only human to feel sadness when we remember. I live in the same house that I have always lived in. I remember a pool we used to have in our backyard. We would spend many summer days in the pool, enjoying our childhood. My dad took down the pool and now it is just a large sand pit in the middle of our yard. When I look at that sand pit i feel great sadness because I remember all the great times I had in that pool and how we wont have anymore fun summer days in the backyard. It is sad because i think about all the memorable moments and the stories that went along with the pool and the sand pit is a stinging reminder that those are just memories and no longer a physical attachment. It is nostalgia when i think about how i can't change the fact that we no longer have a pool and how i wish i had it back.
