“You don’t have to be useful. You are not required to come up with something to say.” In reading this poem, this line stuck out to me. For mainly one reason, some humans, spend a lot of our lives trying to figure out our purpose, and I have struggled with this. Trying to think why and what we are supposed to do with our lives. Many times I have felt that you are only important for actions that set you apart from others, that you have to be this huge important person and change lives and pave the way for millions of people. While those people are important, the ones who don’t make “revolutionary” changes are just as important. I don’t need to rush myself to be someone or do something huge to recognize the value and importance of myself. Maybe our purpose isn’t to be “useful”l or to change the world, maybe our purpose is to just enjoy life and love one another. Changing the world doesn’t have to start or end with changing a million people, it can be changing yourself, your community, and your loved ones. I am sure this line can and has been interpreted in many different ways but this line and the last one were extremely comforting to me, there’s no need to rush in life or stress over things we cannot control, because as Stephanie Burt says, “Some of us are going to be okay,” and I know I will be one of them.
Literature and the Environment: Mermaids
Professor Jessica Pressman. Spring 2024
Hi Naomi! I love your analysis and also chose the same quote to analyze yet with a different approach. I love the way that you put this quote into your own life and show how it affects you. I think it is interesting to think of our life as having a “purpose” especially at such young ages. Your input on the idea of only being important when setting yourself apart is something that I have also struggled to get past and am still working on understanding.
So glad to see you two thinking through the importance of these powerful lines. Eager to end our classroom discussion here, together, today.
Hi Naomi,
I really like your interpretation on this quote. I feel like that sense of needing to make something of ourselves, needing to have a lot of money, all stem from the capitalistic attitude America has coded us with. If you don’t have a job that is deemed respectable then somehow that attributes to who you are and how much you’re worth. A doctor is more regarded than a construction worker, yet both people are just people doing what they like to do, trying to live life as best as they can. Anyway, your interpretation of the quote made me feel like I should take a breath too and just focus on being a good person rather than putting so much pressure on what job I end up with. As long as I can put food on my table and do something I enjoy then that’s all that matters. Great post!