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Thomas Wilson Eng112 Sec 71 4/26/07

The Freedom of the Human Mind: Possibility through Imagination

“Art is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented… to escape the tediousness of life.”

-W. Somerset Maugham, “Of Human Bondage”, 1915

It was the most tragic event to occur in a school system in the history of the United States. The mass shooting at Virginia Tech University in April 2007 brought, perhaps for the first time, the lives of every college student across the country together, in a way strikingly similar to that following the attacks of 9/11. Through the pain and the tears and the heartbreak, through the anger and the miscommunication and the fear, for two weeks we were all one. Each and every one of us felt for the school. We all gave VTech some form of thought and compassion, many participated in vigils or donations or services. At the very least we all pitied the rough times that the campus had.

Had.

How does that small word give justice to the problems and situations that the university will continually have as a result of the tragedy for years to come? Yet three weeks, four, a month or five later, that’s the word we use. The problem doesn’t concern us anymore- the media has stopped reporting on it, we stop thinking about it; it is etched into our minds as “that time”. We are glad that the incident is over.

Same as 9/11. Remember that? Of course you do, everybody does, it was the single most devastating attack on our country ever, and as such it was the hot spot in the media and a soft spot in our hearts for the duration of the incident. Looking back now, however, we don’t see it the same way we did then. The primary problems directly correlated to the attacks are resolved; it’s a sorrowful has-been of the past. Excepting people who lost loved ones or got injured by the incident, nobody wakes up nowadays and starts crying or grieving over it- at least not every day. Why should we? It’s in the past, the problem was resolved, we got over it, we are moving on with our lives because that is how we cope. It’s not shameful to not think about every terrible thing that happened constantly, is it? Must we relive Katrina or VTech or 9/11 to get over it, or do we realize that it is now part of our history and embrace the strength with which we survived, with which we became one nation, one college, one weather-torn state?

The solution lies in the realization of what cultures not completely run by the media or obsessed with speed and tediousness do when approached with the same problem. Learning from what others have done in the face of tragedies- surely America is not the only country to be constantly afflicted with tragic events as misconstrued by our media kingpins- is our to understanding what and why we do the things we do. If we can get over ourselves, if we, as a nation, can learn the ways of others, maybe we have a chance of saving our numbed minds from the constraint of that which we embrace.

Let’s face it, who isn’t fascinated by the intensely thick and quick moving plot of 24, who doesn’t find humor or entertainment in the dialogue of modern comedians, who does enjoy the prospect of not getting anything done, of being lazy, of not constantly learning, adapting, growing. That’s how America has gotten to its status in the world, right? Perpetual motion, continual action and insistent business have gotten us very far into some of the more technical and advanced genres of knowledge. We have the best technology in computers, medicine, entertainment… you name it. Thanks to the classic admiration of business, our American minds have dominated the globe, and given us the tools to cope with the tragedies that will inevitably come up.

So what do other countries lacking this instinctive drive for motion do when terror strikes them?

Religion

(Not Finished) Bali and bombings Unique coping- practicality Fundamental mental process behind religion, and significance Imagination, Freedom

Arts

Significance Personal Experience SOLUTION

Freedom

Closing statement

(Temporary- to be finished by the end of the day)

SOURCES: Quotationspage.com http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=42&did=209131611&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1177597644&clientId=2724 NY Times on Bali bombings