As a general rule most of the bon mots one sees on Facebook and in shop windows, indeed just about everywhere these days, are truisms or thoughts we all have or things we all know expressed in one way or another. In fact there are so many appearing everywhere now that I suspect we take very little notice of them. So when we were in Byers Road and passed the Oxfam Bookshop I hardly gave the writing on the blackboard in the window a second glance. When I did, however, I suddenly thought that if that was a universal truth then it certainly didn't apply to me.
Frankly the more I get into life the less sense it makes: on just about any level.
I think that at this point in life, I tend to agree with you (rather than with the quote); but on the other hand, hopefully both of us have a few chapters left still... (And some books do take unexpected turns right at the end!)
ReplyDeleteHopefully, Monica, we do.
DeleteOn this one, I think I am going to respectfully disagree on all counts GB. I don't think the memes I see are necessarily universal truths. I also don't think a good book need make more sense the further one gets into it. But on your final note, I think my life makes absolutely more sense to me at 50 than it did at 18. But I do agree that we have become desensitized to the memes which float around in our world. Back to you dear Gandalph ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure, Carol, whether you think that I agreed with the written quote. I don't. However when I said it didn't apply to me t was thinking of life in general rather than just my life. It's funny you should call me Gandalph. That was what a particularly close friend called me (when she wasn't calling me Bilbo!).
DeleteI agree with Carol that a good book doesn't necessarily make more sense the further you get into it. That must be an average book at best. As for life, it never made sense to me at 18 or 50 and I agree with you, it seems to make less sense as time goes on....
ReplyDeleteWe are at one Bruv
DeleteAt 20, I knew all the answers. At 50+, I didn't even understand all the questions! xoxox DD
DeleteI love your answer DeeDee but you were a late developer. I knew all the answers at 16 and by 20 I'd already realised that I was way out of my depth!
DeleteWhat is a good book for me is one that grasps me right from the start, whether it makes sense or not is secondary.
ReplyDeleteAs for life in general, I can't say, because I really only know my own life well enough. And that certainly makes more sense now than it used to do. Although it already did make sense at 18. Come to think of it, it always made sense to me - but often enough, the world around me didn't seem to make all that much sense, and that is still the case when I look at the small section of news I notice.
Meike I'm not sure that I understood my own life and I certainly have never understood life in the world in general.
DeleteI wonder if they still make those tear off calenders with annoying sayings on.
ReplyDeleteAdrian I was given one with religious tracts on a few years ago. A friend with hopes!
DeleteI'm only in my very late 40's Graham, but I have to agree with you. But I do wonder, if it is more that society doesn't make sense rather than life? I do know for sure that the way some ome people conduct themselves seems to make less and less sense.
ReplyDeleteLiz I'm not sure that I can distinguish between society and life in this context.
DeleteIf it's a Agatha Christie novel, there are bound to be some twists in the end... So who knows :)
ReplyDeleteMersad
Mersad Donko Photography
True Mersad
DeleteI think it's one of those aphorisms that sound clever, but don't stand close contemplation...? I agree with you, Graham.
ReplyDeleteFrances, I'm busy and now have to spend time looking up aphorism. When I find out what it means I'll work it into a conversation. Lemniscate is a lovely word but I defy anyone to use it in discourse.
DeleteThanks Frances. You've made me wonder whether if it's not true it is an aphorism. Hey ho. Or is it an aphorism because someone asserts that it is so. I wish that I didn't wonder about such things. It takes up some time in a hospital waiting room though.
DeleteAdrian you've mentioned lemniscate before. It's not a word I need very often I confess.
DeleteRE: lemniscate - it may not come up in conversation much, but I'll bet it comes up in scrabble sometimes! :)
DeleteWell DeeDee I'll certainly try and remember (Adrian wheels it out whenever he can because he knows about lemniscates) it but can you have words that long in Scrabble? There you are Adrian. I managed it in a sentence!
DeleteYou know, that sign is ridiculous. Kushner must have been young when he wrote it and it must have been put in the shop window by a 30's something person who thinks they have it all figured out by now. Life, that is. Ho, ho. Are they ever in for a shock!
ReplyDeleteThat could certainly be an explanation PTGAWS
DeleteI have seen various younger people with trite aphorisms like that tattooed upon their skin. The only tattoo I would ever get would say "Tattoos are for nitwits". Kushner is some kind of pseudo-intellectual rabbinical egomaniac. You can see that in the fanciful titles of his books and in his habit of seeking controversial stances.
ReplyDeleteI don't know his writings YP but certainly the few Google headings I saw support your statement.
DeleteOr it makes sense in a totally different way to what you had thought. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's way tooooo deep for me Jenny!
DeleteI'm starting to jettison many of my long held beliefs - not really important ones I hasten to add, but all kinds of things that used to seem clear and obvious now seem to point in a slightly different direction than I thought.
DeleteMind you I'm not sure that explanation really makes it much clearer! :)
Jenny you say not important beliefs 'obviously'. It's some of the really 'important' ones that have changed for me.
Delete... Perhaps you have to wait until the last line. i.e maybe it's about the journey.
ReplyDeleteNot too convinced about that Kate.
DeleteLife never made much sense to me at anytime. But it was certainly simple when I was little. I am only getting more confused as I grow older. :)))
ReplyDeleteStrange think Ruby is that I replied to your comment from my iPhone and I've only just noticed that the comment didn't appear. I must check that out. I can't recall what I said exactly but it was in general agreement with your comment so far as I, too, am concerned.
DeleteThis reminds me of "Life is a bowl cherries" but then it's whether they're pitted or not that makes them more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteLife has always been a big question mark for me.
What a wonderful way of looking at the cherries saying Virginia. I actually don't mind cherries with their stones in. I wouldn't tell anyone as a rule but I used to buy a bag on the way home in NZ and fire the stones out into the country lanes. It helped having an open topped car.
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