How was Least Heat-Moon an example of a person who “sits around and wait for the world to poke them” (395)?
Least Heat-Moon waited for tragic events before he did something that would change him. The things that “poked” him were his divorce and his loss of work. He waited until after these things occurred before he went our and did the things that he obviously really wanted to do.
I had a friend whose mother passed away when we were in 11th grade. She was a very strong girl and had to be the rock for her father in fall on. It wasn’t long before her father started dating a new woman. She was outraged that he could move on so fast. She tried to keep her felling in and she did pretty well for a while. Then, out of nowhere little things started to happen. She met a boy who got her into doing drinking. The casual drinking led to binge drinking. Then things got a lot worse. The same boy got her into doing drugs. Then, a few months later she found out she was pregnant with his child. After things didn’t go so well once her father found out, she ran away from home. Her father called the cops and reported her missing. When the cops found her, she punched one of them and had to be taken to jail for a few days. It took all of these things for her father to realize how badly she was hurting inside. Thankfully, they are both healthier and once again a family.
It is a sad reality of how many people actually act in this way. Most people need events to “poke” them before they realize what is going on and change their lives. Does anyone feel the same was or have a different view?
3 comments:
In some ways, Heat-Moon was always a person with curiosity; he did have two graduate degrees in English, so that says something. But I also see your point about how it took an extreme situation for him to really open himself up to this exploration. Because he lost his job, he had the time to be curious, something most of us don't have unless we get fired, or in the case of students, I guess that would be flunking out. But many people are curious as children and stay curious all through their lives. Another question for you all: Do you agree that children are naturally curious? Were you? Why and when do so many children lose their curiosity? Have you kept yours?
In the case of heat moon, I do not think he necessarily waited around for the world to poke at him. I think that his pokes of life caused him to react. Being divorced and fired caused him to embark on a journey.
When Ms Alice states "some people sit around and wait for the world to poke at them," she is referring to the lazy people of her island. Throughout the entire passage, Ms. Alice expresses her passion for the island and her concern with others apathy to nature. Ms Alice identified that the "salt marshes were a place of beauty" but did not understand why "along much of the road lay junk." The junk in this scenario is a representation of others unconcern and disconnectedness to the island. Ms Alice states, "I read in the SUN that kids feel disconnected. How can that be? Connections lying over the land like stardust."
Instead of helping the island, the people "got used to it" and conformed to their ways of living. Ms. Alice explains that "[they] think it's the way of things.
I agree with Ms. Alice that lack of education was the cause of the people's apathy towards nature and the island itself and not poverty. Heat- moon however, was an intelligible person who knew much about him. For this reason, I do not think that he was on to "sit around and wait for the world to poke them." He simply acted on his circumstance.
I think people who seek adventure are those who do not wait for the world to happen, they become the change they want to see. On the opposite side of the spectrum, conformist's, or people unwilling to change are more likely to sit around and wait for something tragic to happen. I think heat moon falls somewhere in the middle because being divorce and fired served as more of a wake up call than as a desired happening for motivation.
In conclusion, I think most people fall in line with Heat- Moon, somewhere in the middle. The tragic events that happen unexpectedly change our views and cause us to act. It does not mean we sat and waited for them. At least I hope no one is sitting around waiting for a divorce or family death.
Yes I think that all children are naturally curious. I read a wonderful article called Curiosity: The Fuel of Development by Dr.Bruce Perry that stated, “from the moment of birth, likely even before, humans are drawn to new things…when we are curious about something new, we want to explore it.” In this article Dr. Perry gives examples of what children do to learn. Some examples he gave included discovering that chocolate is sweet by tasting it and that ice is cold by touching it. I don’t think children, much less adults, lose their curiosity. If we would, then we would not learn. As humans, it is typical for us to explore in order to discover.
This chart is a great summary of how curiosity ultimately leads back to more curiosity.
Curiosity results in Exploration
Exploration results in Discovery
Discovery results in Pleasure
Pleasure results in Repetition
Repetition results in Mastery
Mastery results in New Skills
New Skills results in Confidence
Confidence results in Self esteem
Self esteem results in Sense of Security
Security results in More Exploration
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