A small bird follows Billy Pilgrim throughout the story simply saying, "poo-tee-weet." An acknowledgment of the bird's presence and the sounding call is significant, considering it is one of the limited constants in Billy Pilgrim's life. The meaning of the phrase may not be explicitly displayed, but the interpretation and internalization of it will help chip away at the shell of the words to reveal a personal meaning. The entire time as I read Slaughterhouse-Five I wondered what the phrase could possibly mean. With each turn of the page, I could only hope Kurt Vonnegut would eventually reveal what the purpose and significance were of “poo-tee-weet.” Although the hopes of the meaning being revealed were crushed, the day came when I was encouraged to define “poo-tee-weet” for myself. Right or wrong, it did not matter. I thought about the question I had been asking for weeks, and now I had the opportunity to answer it in any way I deemed appropriate. For much of Slaughterhouse-Five, “poo-tee-weet” is written as a statement. This short statement was as if the bird is the whisper of hope for Billy. Billy needs the encouragement to keep going. So, for every time I read “poo-tee-weet” in the text, I added, keep going, Billy Pilgrim. There is one time in Slaughterhouse-Five that “poo-tee-weet” is written as a question. This may not seem like a profound detail to catch, but in this instance, it was everything. Suddenly, it could no longer mean the same thing in that context. Intonation and form now added an extra element to the meaning. All while Billy Pilgrim has been unstuck in time, underlying themes came into perspective. My renewed interpretation of the seemingly meaningless phrase now held two distinct meanings for me. Keep going, Billy Pilgrim. Where will time take you, Billy Pilgrim? Reflecting on Slaughterhouse-Five has been something I have wanted to for some time now. There are some elements of mystery that will forever remain a mystery, but one can still wonder. How would my life decisions be different if I had a little bird chirping “poo-tee-weet?” Would the nudge of something telling me to keep going push me beyond my limits and inspire a leap of faith? Would the question of where will time take me be enough of a reminder to never settle for something less when greatness is within my grasp? I would like to think that we all have the internal driving force telling us whatever motivation we need to live our lives. The chances of me ever meeting the answers to life questions are slim, but for as long as I live, I will make the most of what comes my way. May I always flutter in the wind. Stay Curious, Kayla ©Inquisitive Perspectives 2016
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As much as we try to live in the moment and look ahead to the future, it is hard to dismiss certain aspects of life leading up to the present. It is only natural to look back. Childhood memories are cherished and milestones are monumental. These moments in time are forever a part of our life story, and once in a while, we reread our stories by flipping through photo albums or reminisce about old times. We feel the need to acknowledge previous times, and by doing this, we are reminding ourselves to keep going. Imagine your all-time favorite book. We all have one. That book is handled with care and placed in a special spot on the bookshelf. It is read with an open heart and detailed eye. The book is special, but it is not the only book you will ever read again. The same applies to reflecting on life. We cannot constantly live in the past, for we will lose sight of looking forward to our next chapter. A sentimental value will be engrained on our past, but the value can only remain on preserved keepsakes. Just like a dust cover protects a book, we must protect our own story from becoming tattered. If we never reread our book or looked back on life, it would seem as if those two things had lost their meaning and significance. There is only one chance to read a book for the first time and one chance to live life. The perspectives and insights we gain from those experiences are powerful. We may never feel those same feelings in the same fashion, but we will not forget having them. But, to revisit our past frequently, the sensations will become weaker and weaker, and, eventually, will no longer hold any value. We cannot block every memory, nor should we, but to dwell on life in the past keeps us from seeing what is happening now. It is human nature to want to look back to see a person one last time or to hear someone laugh one more time, so we have to tell ourselves to use the power sparingly and remind ourselves that it is for good measure. Stay Curious, Kayla ©Inquisitive Perspectives 2016 As life is lived, we collect puzzle pieces that tell our story. Everything in a life is meant to happen, whether we believe it or not; life’s events fit together like a perfectly-pieced puzzle. Without each piece in its place, the puzzle is incomplete. A puzzle that is missing a piece looks funny, and it is relatively frustrating to finish working a puzzle only to find an empty spot with nothing to fill the void. Puzzles are an artistic display of a story being told, and while some puzzles never make their way out of the box, others are thoughtfully pieced together and displayed. It is up to us to make our life puzzle complete and worthy of displaying. In saying, ‘so it goes,’ it seems dismissive. But, I would argue that it is a sign of acknowledgment and acceptance of an event’s occurrence during a lifetime. We would like to hope that all of life’s puzzle pieces resemble joyous occasions, but the reality of life prepares us to encounter sorrowful days as well. Regardless of how our days come, we cannot change outcomes after the fact, so we need to put into perspective how that event transpires into a puzzle piece, to later place in its designated place. The story we tell will hopefully have some spectacular elements illustrated in the puzzle. Puzzles generally have a couple sequences that are more challenging than the others. These challenges coincide with testing times of life. The results of those tests may not be exactly what we had hoped for, but they surely make us appreciate better times. It is a fact that life is not easy. We either rise to the occasion, or we succumb to our weaknesses, and so it goes. A puzzle only fits together one way. We only have one chance to live. As we encounter life head on, we are given the ultimate task to not only collect pieces to create memories; we must define the significance of those puzzle pieces to tell our legacy. Long after we are gone, our life puzzle will either be shattered in pieces, tucked in the depths of someone’s closet, or it will be displayed for all to see. No matter where our puzzles end up or how they look, the legacy of our life will be known in one form or another because the story continues. Stay Curious, Kayla ©Inquisitive Perspectives 2016 It is not enough for me to sit idly while the world is in constant motion and while society waits for no one. There are so many moving parts to life that the present is blindly taken for granted. Moments come and go, but how we act and think in those moments determine a lasting legacy for us. The foreshadowing of anticipating the unknown may be found in the uncertainties of the past, but nothing is standing in the way of seeing the newness of now. The perception of time is difficult to wholly fathom. And the expectation to have the power to properly place into perspective the existence of time is far too great. The here and now is a priceless time; there is only one chance to make the most of it, learn all we can from it, and understand that what we do today could be monumental. The power in being certain of these things, we must be comfortable with who are we. I have to discover who I am relative to the person I was yesterday and hopeful to be the person I become tomorrow. Today is the only opportunity to accomplish and discover great things. It is too late to let yesterday stand in the way of having no regrets, and tomorrow is too far away for let the chance of right now wait. Development is thought to happen at certain milestones, and while the basis for that is true, our personal development is not limited to proverbial benchmarks. We will always have room to grow, and it will help us to continually find our place in this life. I may never know the answers to all of my hypothetical life questions, but I must come to terms with the answers I am willed with knowing. Sometimes, it is proper to let a moment go by and appreciate knowing it was meant to be. Filled with wonderment, I will live for the moment while pilfering through a pocketful of curiosity. Stay Curious, Kayla ©Inquisitive Perspectives 2016 “A person either loves or hates Slaughterhouse-Five, and you, I think you are going to hate it.” That is how I was introduced to the book by my ever so enthusiastic eleventh-grade English teacher. The disclaimer to the required-reading book was not the warm invite I was hoping for, but I was willing to agree with him that I would, indeed, hate the book. I even went as far as posting on social media that evening about how I could hardly wait to dive into this book [insert sarcasm here]. I had no intentions of remotely enjoying Slaughterhouse-Five, and with a title like that, who could blame me? I was quick to judge, but as quickly as I judged, I unexpectedly fell in love with the story. The old saying rang true for me; you cannot judge a book by its cover (or title). Within pages of beginning, I was pulled into a literary realm I had never discovered. There was something about the unrealistic encounters that seems to hold such a real meaning. This unlikely personal pick of reading material provided me the opportunity to explore literature beyond the confines of a narrow mind. The idea that we could live an apparently complete life and only see a fraction of it in a lifetime sparked something in me. I got to thinking that, if given the opportunity to take a step out of my life to view my actions in a new perspective, would I be happy with what I saw? What did I miss in my life along the way? Would I have done something differently? These rhetorical questions scroll through my mind once in a while, and at these times, I am taking an active role in my accountability to myself. Going through a goal-driven and dream-chasing life, I can be blind to life on the periphery. There is a good chance I have missed moments that I could have found joy in or oversaw a lesson that could have been powerful. Having the chance to actually view my life outside of it probably will never happen the same way as it did for Billy Pilgrim, and maybe that is a good thing. I honestly do not think a Tralfamadorean encounter is the most believable thing on earth to have to explain. Nonetheless, I can create my own chance to analyze the reel of my life. For everything that happens in life, there is a meaning behind it. The meaning of an event happening or not happening may not presently be available, but at one point or another, the meaning will appear. Whether it makes sense is another discussion, but the very discussion we owe ourselves to answer the what ifs and why nots in life. We get lost in the fantasies of life to ignore the realities. Our perception could keep us from understanding the ironic meanings of life. It excites me to meet the time to find myself unstuck in life’s irony of sorts. Stay Curious, Kayla ©Inquisitive Perspectives 2016 |
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