I promised myself I would stay on the farm where I belonged, but the problem with wearing blinders is that when she got directly in front of me, she was all I could see.
Sorry mama. I can't snap peas with you anymore; I found what I was looking for.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
4.9
I promised myself I would sit on the porch in the rocker next to mama. I promised myself I would hoe the corn with pop. I promised myself I would saddle the horse and ride to town and the horse wouldn't get to wear the blinders because I would need them because I promised myself I wouldn't look at the devil women in town who are up to no good.
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I'm kind of disappointed in myself because the last line rhymes. BUT I can't help that so whatever. It sounds good, too. :P
ReplyDeleteGO LITTLE AMISH BOY GO!
ReplyDeleteThat was my first thought. I was like, heck yes, repressed farm boy goes into town and finds true love. Dang, this is going to be SO GOOD.
I liked the last lines, too. :)
So . . . is it true love or is it a narrow focus that makes her seem better than she is?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure . . . maybe the focus. I mean, from my experience, it is usually the thing.
ReplyDeleteP.S. @Lyssa: your comment cracks me up.
hahaha, I like Lyssa's comment as well. And I actually agree. I was like 'yay!' when he found what he was looking for. well done old chap. good show.
ReplyDeleteBUT does he need or deserve what he was looking for? Or was he searching for the wrong thing? OH DECISIONS.
ReplyDeleteUgh, sorry. Don't think like me.
ReplyDeleteHe found someone who filled a need in him. Go, him. If he's decided to go for it, and he's gone for it, and he's happy, then yay. (They can file for divorce later.)
I don't know. I'm not all gung ho about these sorts of decisions. Seeing everyone's reactions worries me.
ReplyDeleteBut everyone reacted positively except for me, and I have terrible judgment.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I don't know. If she was the only one he saw, she was the only one he knew. So perhaps she was right for him, perhaps there was someone better.
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem with blinders.
I don't really approve of blinders for horses. They tend to cause about as many problems as they solve. Horses rely on their peripheral vision, and they freak out easily when they can't see everything around them.
ReplyDeleteThis was an important thing that everyone needed to know.
I was turned off to blinders after my first reading of Black Beauty.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. Then again . . . sometimes people need to focus. Is there a time when people could use "blinders," as it were?
ReplyDeleteSometimes having a narrower focus does help horses. "Different strokes for different folks," to quote an idiom. Hmm . . .
I am not sure blinders are EVER a good idea for people. Why would you wear them? Is there ever ever ever a "right" time?
ReplyDeleteThat's what I want to know. When people get married, should they get blinders so they have eyes only for each other? Should we REALLY forget what is behind and strain toward the prize? Should women wear bonnets?
ReplyDeleteWith horses, I find they usually do better being trained to focus rather than forced to focus, though.
Yes, trained to focus.
ReplyDeleteI would think that's how it would be/should be with married couples. They just love each other, so of course they only have eyes for each other. I wouldn't call that blinders. (Though I do think that people can force blinders on to themselves.)
I've never thought of blinders as good. You guys all seem to see a variation of them that I cannot.
ReplyDelete:S
No, I don't think they are good. But I think that sometimes people put them on of their own volition. (For coping mechanisms and other such reasons.) But I don't think they are good. I think they can make a person be happy with where they are, where they believe they have ended up, but I don't believe they are good.
ReplyDeleteBlinders: The reason I suck at 1st person shooter games.
The only reason? Really? I would have thought that lack of practice would also hinder you somewhat.
ReplyDeleteHahaha there are so many reason I am terrible at shooter games of all sorts (paintball, anyone?). I suppose I should take Catherine de Burgh's advice and practice.
ReplyDeleteI try to give things the benefit of the doubt. I have lots of reasons for doing so that I really want to share right now, but the important part is . . . I can see how blinders could be used as a training tool. I can see how choosing continually to ignore certain things might be useful. I do think, however, that if blinders have uses, those uses are only for a season (like bonnets and summertime only), because eventually just about everyone steps into the real world.
Actually, I've had quite a bit of practice. The 11-year-old I used to babysit asked me to play call of duty with him all the time. (Almost as much as he asked me to play basket ball [which was everyday].) And I play with my cousins' husbands sometimes.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't really enjoy it. I hate not being able to see everything.
woot.
ReplyDelete"I hate not being able to see everything."
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the truth?
Hey! Wait! Here's a thing!
Okay, this is going to be nutzoid and crazed, but Goethe's Faust is, like, determined to GET ALL OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND ALL OF THE EXPERIENCE IN THE WORLD, like, TODAY! And that always really, really, really bothered me because I like getting knowledge and learning new things and having cool new experiences, and even though that was Faust's biggest sin, I couldn't really fault him for it.
I always get angry when people say that the original sin was curiosity because Eve wanted more knowledge.
But then . . .
Eve DID want knowledge. She wanted to understand. So did Faust. So do most of the really smart people about whom I read. And almost all of those people ended up hurting and disillusioned.
Except then there's the part in the Bible that says "This is eternal life: to know You and the One You have sent" (well, okay, it's a paraphrase, but basically that).
So maybe there are things we aren't supposed to know (is anyone else seeing positive uses of blinders here, or is that just me?), and maybe there are things that we are supposed to know at SOME point, but just not now.
Maybe the original sin was not "curiosity" but rather unwillingness to rest in God and let Him satisfy that curiosity in His perfect timing.
Because I really think Eve would have gotten all her answers eventually. Maybe she still will. I really think that God isn't hiding stuff from us. But gaining knowledge is an experience, and gaining it all at once would kill us. I mean, I think there's a reason that "knowing God" is defined as "eternal life" (okay, so actually I think there are several reasons).
But I hate not being able to see everything. And I hate not being able to see everything. I don't like looking in a darkened mirror and trying to make out God through the lattices. And yet . . .
No, I still don't agree. Blinders are bad because they only let you see where you're already looking. It's like (God forbid) Socrates' men in the cave, looking at shadow puppets.
ReplyDeleteThere is never a time when keeping an open mind is a bad thing.
Keeping an open mind, yes. But a mind actively searching too hard and getting frustrated by not finding answers . . . sometimes I think people need to wait.
ReplyDeleteI probably shouldn't be saying this here out loud, but whatever, it is true and it fits the point I am trying to make, but I nearly killed myself because I couldn't find the answers I wanted right then. Now, seven years later, I'm just finding those answers. I didn't find them until I stopped trying to force everything into my answer box and let the real answers come on their own.
I can't see what my future will be, and I hate that I don't know, but God has given me all the knowledge I need for today, and He will give me the knowledge I need for tomorrow. I must, in this instance, "stand and wait."
I think God shows me what I need to know when I need to know it, and I need to trust Him to do that. So . . . I think I must keep a mind open to His leading and accept blinders from Him if He thinks I don't need to know about a certain thing just yet?
When researchers were trying to determine if light acted as a particle, or as a wave, they set up a perfect test. Direct a particle through two slits in a paper and it makes two lines on the light-sensitive paper on the other end of the room. Direct a wave through two slits, and you get a pattern of lines gradiating out from the middle.
ReplyDeleteThey did the test and got the effect of a wave. They were so excited; light acted as a wave. They did a secondary test where they measured the lightwaves as they came through the slits and guess what?
The effect changed, and the light acted like a particle.
The point is that information is changed when you are actively looking at it/for it. You can't go searching for information, because it changes it. However, if you just wait with open eyes and let it come to you, it's easier to parse correctly. So blinders are bad, and magnifying glasses are bad. And not parsing the data as it comes to you is bad. Basically, there are no right ways and everything is bad, but I love that experiment with light.
Haha, so good! I noticed and enjoyed the rhyme. Sometimes you just have to embrace them. My favourite part: your second last sentence :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm not sure where this whole post came from.
ReplyDeleteP.S. you caught up supa fast!
P.P.S. this was MEANT TO BE DEPRESSING! I'm not sure what's wrong with all y'all. UGH :)
I also love that experiment with light! :-)
ReplyDeletePeople often see what they wish to see, whether or not that is entirely accurate.
Ok, so here's my final (?) thought on blinders:
ReplyDeleteWe can't know EVERYTHING. It's impossible. Somethings (like the future) are simply not even here for us to see. (At least not in this dimension.) And I'm ok with that. Not a big deal. But as far as the stuff I can see is concerned, I'm not going to put myself in a place where I can't see all of it. First off, that would be dumb. And second, there's something comforting about having a whole landscape laid out in front of you.
I like to see what I can. That's why I love mountains.