In To the Lighthouse, Mr. Ramsay is depressed about the plateau of his career and he dwells on it. Mrs. Ramsay, on the other hand, understands how transient time is and it causes her to cherish the time she has left. Reading these two opposing sides has left me thinking that Mr. Ramsey’s view does nothing but make him more solemn person. While Mrs. Ramsey’s view is more ideal, I feel as if we can’t always make the most out of life, there are always things we’ll dwell on that may hold us back. So the human way of looking at the transience of life is to have a balance of the two.
Personally I tend to not dwell on things. But like most people I do have those moments where I’m stuck in a rut. But I use other moments in my life to get me out of the rut. For example, field trip week I went on an excursion from Cincinnati, OH to Charlottesville, VA to New York, NY to Boston, MA. Moments along this trip stood out to me as most memorable because of my mindset those days.
When I saw the statue of liberty for the first time it didn’t sink in until I called my grandma and talked to her about it. It has always been a dream of hers to visit the statue of liberty. Knowing this, I appreciated my experience even more so.
Another moment later that week was when I saw the ocean for the second time in my life. The first time I was in elementary school and didn’t appreciate the vastness and the beauty of it. When I saw it again a month ago I felt like a little girl again collecting sea shells and staring at the cool water.
The Nature of Self 