Quality of Life

Reading "Everything Matters!" this year was undoubtedly a life-altering experience for me. I learned many important lessons, which I can use throughout my life. First of all, before even reading the novel, the exercise Ms. Serensky made us write about what we would all do if we knew the world was going to end at age 35. We all wrote our papers with our life dreams and locations of where we would ideally want to spend the rest of our lives. I decided I would move to San Diego after graduating college and train my kids to be bilingual and professional surfers. During our discussion, Ms. Serensky said, "All of these things are possible, so why don't you just do them regardless [of your knowledge of the world's projected date of obliteration]".

Then it hit me. I wondered why I would only "live life to the fullest" if I knew the date of the world's end. I concluded that this novel really emphasizes the importance of "quality" of life over "quantity". I would define "quantity" as years of life wasted by going through the motions and ignoring one's problems rather than facing them. For example, after John Sr. asks Debbie to stop drinking, she says, "Why?"(156). Here, she denies she has a serious problem and refuses to face treatment. This shows that she is living a miserable life, and is incapable of facing reality. Another example of this is when Amy decides to move away from her seemingly ideal life with a husband and dog living in beautiful California. She bitterly mutters, "The only thing I'll miss is the dog"(201). Here, Currie indirectly characterizes her as desirous for positive change in her life which evokes pathos of admiration in the empathetic audience.

Therefore, why not live in California and teach my children to be bilingual and professional surfers? If that is what seems enjoyable and will make me a satisfied, happy individual, I have no objection to that lifestyle. I believe Americans today are too caught up in living the idealistic life with an abundance of money and material possessions, and ignore the simple pleasures in life. They need to realize that "Anything, anything, anything, is possible"as Ron Currie, Jr. emphasizes throughout his award-winning novel.

Yes, this is my future child: