An update on my last entry, posted 11 months ago. I am now a huge Harry Potter fan.
I’m a Harry Potter fan, but not of the rabid variety. I never attempted to read any of the books. I know nothing about their author. But I caught some of J.K. Rowling’s interview with Oprah, and I found myself enamored with her. Especially when they showed a clip of her Commencement Address at Harvard.
Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
I watched the rest of her address and found her words inspiring. She spoke of the benefit of failure, stripping away the inessential. Hitting rock bottom gave her the foundation to rebuild her life. You don’t realize your strength until you’re tested by adversity. You emerge stronger from setbacks, secure in your ability to survive.
She also spoke of imagination:
Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.
She describes working with Amnesty International, where she read and listened to stories of rape, killings, kidnappings, and poverty. Although she witnessed the evils of humankind, she learned more about goodness at Amnesty International than she had ever known before, ordinary people joining together to save the lives of people they do not know.
This is the power of imagination:
Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places.
Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.
What is more, those who choose not to empathise enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.
If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
Watch or read the full address here: http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination
“simple characters, complex plot”—
paul castro, my film professor
Neato, I heard or read somewhere, but I don’t remember where, that no matter how complex and intricate the storyline is, if the characters are flat then the audience won’t connect with them and they won’t like the story. I wish I remembered where I read it, but I see truth in both perspectives.
One of my favorite classes and professors. But isn’t it “simple story, complex characters”? sscc
The weather forecast said it would rain today during lunch, so on the way to work, I went to McDonald’s to save the food for later instead of walking to lunch in the rain. They were still serving breakfast, so I decided not to get anything because I would just end up eating it right away. I should’ve gotten breakfast anyway. I really wanted McDonald’s. I was sad.
(Google) Waving Goodbye to 2009
If my family didn’t always go to the same cheap restaurant, I wouldn’t leave them a tip. Worst service ever. I think my parents never tip enough, except at this cheap restaurant we always go to, any amount is too much. Too bad they know our faces.
