English 123: Blog 6

During class today, the Wallace Stevens' poems were presented by each individual. It was interesting to see everyone's different perspectives of their specific poem. There seemed to be an underlying theme with all of his poems. The underlying theme, as discussed on Friday, is reality versus imagination and poetry. In my poem specifically, Waving Adieu, Adieu, Adieu the subject of death and the idea that everyone needs to live their life to the fullest no matter what problems life throws you. Having been thrown many curve balls throughout my life, I have learned to appreciate the people that are close to me. It is hard for me to trust people and let people in to my life and I am a reserved person. I trust very few people beyond my family members. I have had issues every since grade school of bullying and girls being conniving. Ever since a traumatic event that happened in high school I finally realized that life is not guaranteed and every day should be lived as if it were your last. I know this is a lot easier said than done, but if every person tries to live their life to the fullest than that is all anyone can ask for. My poem was a great poem for me to analyze and read because I completely agree that every day needs to be lived to the fullest because once someone dies that is the end of their life on earth. Loosing someone close to you makes you realize that life is not guaranteed, it is a gift. Life is a gift that should be treated with the utmost respect because it can be taken away in an instant.

My personal experience, that I have always had trouble telling people because I do not want them to pity me, involves me being diagnosed with an extremely rare autoimmune disease when I was 16 years old. The causes are unknown and the treatments consist of a large variety. I was told that I would never be able to play sports again and that I would have trouble with eye sight and joint pains, in the form of possibly arthritis, for the rest of my life. It is hard hearing that at 16 when the only stress in your life should be about what outfit you are going to wear the next day. I have been able to control the disease since I was diagnosed and do not experience any of the problems the doctor told me I would. I credit this to my desire to play high school basketball and the fact that I stopped at nothing to get better and become cleared to play. I fulfilled my high school dream of being an all-state athlete and now I have set my goals on getting into medical school ( a much harder challenge than my high school one!). Through this experience I am a firm believer in the idea that life is not guaranteed and that every moment and person that is important in your life should be cherished and told how much they mean to you. I never expected to openly write about my medical history but life Mr. Sexson said today all the bridges have been broken down and for some reason I let go of my inhibitions to keep that information inside of me.

There is no reason to hold back when life is not always going to be there.