Tuesday 8 November 2011

Haikus



Dear reader,

I thought I would throw a little haikus your way to brighten up your day. I enjoy writing haikus-with a structure so simple (5,7,5 syllables) and a message so true.

Get Better soon


Take a little pill,
Smile at the day ahead
Get a little rest

Sending Hope your way

May the sun kiss you,
May the birds sing well to you,
May you get better

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Literature



Reader,

I have been recently Arthur Miller's play, 'Death of a Salesman.' Have any of you read it? It is one of my personal favourite pieces of literature of all time. So simply written, yet so powerfully conveyed is the mental decline of Miller's protagonist, Willy Loman, that one cannot help but read about the plight of this man. This poor, poor man who does not fit into the society in which he is living. Have you ever felt like that before? That if you were born in a different era, at a different time or walked in a different body your life would be easier?

Which leads me to another question: Why, when I am so down myself, am I compelled to read about the mental decline of others in the pits of despair? Why not reach for the feel good classics? 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is always a wholeheartedly feel good book to pick you up. The heroic Atticus commands respect, admiration and even restores the faith in humanity and the charismatic and humorous Dill draws out belly rumbling laughs.

However, there is just something intensely mesmerising about reading books like 'Death of a Salesman' when feeling at a low ebb. Maybe it's the personal soul searching that goes on when digesting lines which one can feel: 'He's just a little boat looking for a harbour,' or 'He's a human being...and attention must be paid to him.' Maybe it's because when I read this play I can always match the characters up to people I know in my life. Everybody knows a Willy Loman. You may even be a Willy Loman yourself, dear reader. Everyone knows a Biff Loman: a self-indulged child who grows up to waste his own life, while apportioning blame on everyone around him. Everyone knows a Linda Loman- the strong matriarch who keeps the family together. Everyone knows or can identify with Happy Loman- the child who has to fight for his father's attention all his life.

Whoever you are, or for whatever reason you read, "Death of a Salesman" is a play I would recommend. It won't life your spirits on a rainy day; it won't give you hope when you feel there is none; it will not make you laugh. There is one thing it will do, however. It will expose you, first hand, to the psychological decline of a man on the brink: the brink of society and the brink of mental decline. And maybe, through reading this you can feel satisfied that life is hard, your mental illness is justified, to be expected even in this constant whirlwind of stress we call life. It gives you reason and answers for feeling the way you do.