In this week's Reading Mary Anne Schwalbe took her first trip out of the country after she’d learn of her diagnosis. London was where she went too and enjoyed going back to visit family and just reminisce. When she got back from London it was time to pick new books for the club. As she was going down memory lane Mary Anne asks Schwalbe if he has yet read her favorite book, The Lizard Cage. Mary Anne and Schwalbe briefly talked about the book on what it was about. The lizard Cage , “starts with a little boy, an orphan, and tells the story of his interaction with a political prisoner, a songwriter named Teza.”(131) Teza is the main character in the book, it talks about the worst things that happen in prison. “Teza, a Buddhist must capture and eat raw lizards, breaking his breaking his faith by killing and consuming something that lived in order to survive himself..”(131) Schwalbe mentions how this book helps him and Mary Anne connect with each other more as he says, “It’s a tremendously powerful book that also speaks to our need to connect with each other, to tell stories and pass them on, especially through writing.” (131) Mary Anne kept what meant to her the most from The Lizard Cage , “Whatever beings there are, may they be able to protect their own happiness.” As Mary Anne is sitting getting treated for chemo she continues discussing the book with Schwalbe, and briefly asks him, “What did you think of the amazing prayer Teza says to himself after the beating?” (132) The prayer Teza says is “.. a Buddhist meditation that Teza uses to calm his mind, to put aside not just the physical pain but the sadness and range he’s feeling.” (133) She tells Schwalbe that it is her favorite about protecting your own happiness. Schwalbe then asks himself, “But how can you protect your own happiness when you can’t control the beatings?” (133) In Schwalbe's mind he replaced the word beatings with cancer. Do you think you can protect your own happiness? What if you can’t control the bad the comes to you? Can you still choose to be happy or let it beat you? Have you ever had something bad happen to you? And did you let it take over your happiness? Do you agree in being able to have control in protecting your own happiness? If so, how?
7 Comments
Sarah Brunson
3/9/2016 02:50:15 pm
I don't believe that you can control the bad things that happen to you. But i do believe that you can determine what you're effected by. When my grandpa died i could have let it eat me from the inside out but i decided not to let that happen. I wanted to show how grateful i was to have him in my life for as long as i did and when i was happy, my family was inspired by how i didn't let this destroy me.
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Quinn Nolan
3/10/2016 08:04:00 pm
First off, there will always be things in life that you can't control. But you can control what it MEANS to you, are you being punished? Or is it an opportunity to grow. Perspective is one of the many keys to happiness. Happiness is also a word that can't be defined so specifically, humans experience a variety of different things that make them happy. But the universal truth to emotions is controlling what things mean to you. For instance a few weeks ago I was very tired long boarding to class, it had just rained and there were a bunch of rocks and little branches from the trees that had taken up the sidewalk. One of the branches got caught in my board and it caused the board to stop and me to fall. I made the conscious decision to just get up and go, it's life, things happen and you can't control them. But I could 100% control what it meant to me and that allowed my mood to elevate.
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Liliana M
3/12/2016 07:35:39 pm
Happiness and life are similar. I disagree with Sarah you can control the bad things that happen to you. Although "life is unfair" the saying as why does this have to happen to me. It was based for a reason but you can change that and do something about it. If there is a time when I can't control the bad that happens in my life I would still be happy I would live life like nothing occurred. I would be doing what makes me lively. I'm not gonna let the evil get to me or destroy me feelings of joy. I can control my feelings of being cheerful. How am I going to be able to control the feelings of not feeling blue is trusting and be loving to others. For Mary Anne she got cancer, that was her beating she managed to control her happiness. She did a lot of things that made her accomplished and good about herself.
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Liliana De La Torre
3/19/2016 02:21:27 pm
Yes I do believe with Mary Anne in that I can protect by own happiness. Something things we can’t control but there are some things that you can avoid. For example, hanging out constantly with a person who always has a negative comment to say. Reality always has a way of coming into our lives when we least expect. The way we choose to react to it is up to one. Some people respond differently when it comes to something bad happening to them. They either cope with it and continue on with life or stay stuck in that bad moment. The way I usually react when something bad happens to me is I cope with it and continue on with my life. Yes, I have had a lot of bad things happen to me in my life but I didn’t let it take over with my life because I knew that sooner or later everything will be better. Although, it might sound bad, but when it comes to your happiness you do have to be a selfish because you are the only one who is in charge of it.
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Maci Fusi
3/20/2016 08:05:20 pm
I believe you can control your own happiness to an extent. The way I look at it is like this, there will always be ups, downs, and turns in life but are you willing to let them get in your way or to just power through them? Sometimes life throws curve balls that are one hundred percent out of our hands but you can always manipulate a situation to suit yours or someone else's needs. As my mother puts it, "You have to take the bad with the good." Sometimes there really is not a happier route to choose in life but things happen, and learning how to cope and deal with bad things is how you control your happiness.
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Alessandro Trejo
4/4/2016 10:43:05 am
I disagree with Mary Anne that we can’t protect our own happiness for the most time. There are bad things that would happen surprisingly in life that we can’t seem to control, but have a choice on how we react to it. I always do my best to stay positive and happy rather than to be sad along with thinking about how much my life sucks. Throughout your life, everyone would go through phrases where your whole world goes down. For example, I am sure everyone has lost someone that they loved and had a positive impact. I lost one of my favorite teachers recently, who always pushed me to do my best in school and always support me. He always wanted me to go to graduate from high school and move on to college. After I accomplish these goals, I wanted to tell him about my accomplishments before I went off to my graduation ceremony, but instead received the news that he passed away to cancer the day before. I decide to spend the half of the hour I had to get ready, crying and thinking about all of the positive impact he had in my life and thanking him for everything he had done for me. Also, how much it would have meant for him to hear the news I had for him. After that, I went on to getting dressed and ready for my graduation. I didn’t want to be sad on the day of my graduation, but instead being happy and thinking about how many people were going to be proud of me.
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Jessica Martinez
4/8/2016 10:34:11 am
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