The Importance of Living (5)
Thoughts from Madison Nef
“Everybody wants to be somebody, so long as that somebody is not himself.” Or so says Yutang, starting off the 5th chapter of the book. He focuses on animals once again, using them symbolically. He notes that he has never seen an animal with a sad or depressed expression on its face except for the chimpanzee or monkey, and he attributes that to them thinking more deeply than other creatures. He says that every animal seems content in its world, aside from humans and monkeys. Yutang’s belief is that we think ourselves into being upset and discontent with life, or as he puts it, “like an a la carte restaurant where everyone looks over and thinks the next table’s food is better looking than his own”.
All this discontent is due to thinking and the power of one’s brain. The bigger one’s dreams and the more that a man imagines he can have, the more unsatisfied he becomes with reality. Yutang says that this is why imaginative children can be harder to deal with- it’s because they have a completely different view of reality and what it SHOULD be. This reminds me of people who get so caught up in TV shows and other false realities that they fail to be content with what they have- I’ve seen it happen and it’s very sad.
Through life, I’ve learned to take what I get and enjoy things while I have them. If you fail to enjoy the things you have WHILE YOU HAVE THEM, you end up missing them and hurting more when they suddenly disappear. Having a false reality isn’t good- while it may benefit you for the time being to pretend that things are going just fine, you can’t fake forever because your reality will inevitably break through. If no one can see the problem, no one can help you- so sometimes letting reality become evident, even if it hurts, can help you in the long run.
As my dad says, in the end, it isn’t about objects and what you have. If your house burned to the ground and every last thing you owned was destroyed, at the end of the day you’d only have one thing: your honor. One of my dad’s philosophies is to always keep your honor full and there- not only is it the one thing you own completely, it is also something that only you can control. It stays with you, even after you die- because if you were honorable, those who knew you will remember you for it.
I think that the main lesson in this chapter is to not take things for granted and to realize that the little things matter the most. Having a false sense of reality sucks because you are never content with what you have- even if you have all that you need to begin with. Dad always tells me that it’s the little things in life that count, because they are the things that will make you happy continuously. However, if you equate happiness with the “big” things in life, you won’t be happy very often because “big” things don’t come around a lot. In fact, I wrote a poem about it:
Sometimes all you need,
to brighten up your day,
is a simple smile or laugh,
sent from far away.
A rainbow forming from the clouds,
the stars that shine at night,
all the tiny things,
that make a day so bright,
a small yet perfect butterfly,
perched on a dainty flower,
jumping into puddles,
 from an afternoon shower,
All these little things,
they make our life so great,
yet are barely acknowledged,
until it is too late.
For little things create the big,
the "big" that we find great,
like going to a party,
or staying up real late.
but these things do not happen,
every single day,
and so we feel unlucky,
sad, and down in every way...
we feel rejected, and feel mad,
because our life's not "perfect",
but now, sit down, lie back,
reflect!
for it truly is the little things...
the little things that make life perfect.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know I did.

Maddie