Home1
Desiderata (All Things Desired) Wed Jun 15, 2011 6:29 am
Fatal Dawn
Registered Member
Posts : 527
Points : 92
Age : 31
Location : --
Browser :
Hi, this was a short essay I had written about something that greatly inspired me - it is based from the short poem "Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann. Tell me what you think.
All Things Desired
Written by Dawn
“Strive for love, virtue, and placidity in a world of hatred, blindness, and drudgery” – a message from the poem of Desiderata, that helped to shape my philosophy. Translated in Latin as “all things desired,” Desiderata explains what we should really strive for. The poem underlines that we all desire things, maybe we desire to be athletic, wise, famed, or beautiful. Yet we are kept in bounds by society that dreams, wishes and wants are nothing more than mere flights of fancy.
Desiderata scolds us of a broken world, broken hearts, and broken dreams. We are encouraged to separate our wants from our needs; fulfill our place in this universe and fit that place obediently. Live without regrets away from our world’s vexations and tribulations. I came to know Desiderata’s words, but knowing is not the same thing as understanding. I questioned such an ideal and it was something very foreign to me.
I know that this world is a cycle of pain; a system that is indescribable, indefinable, and inevitable. No one desires pain, but I saw it as if Desiderata explains that pain is necessary and only by the support of each other can we grow to overcome our troubles. I have heard the expression of walking in another’s shoes, that you don’t truly know a person until you know his or her pain. Growing up I had my share of great pains and detested others for not understanding my pain. After hearing that expression I opened up to others’ pain – poverty, divorce, sickness, and death. I learned quickly that I wasn’t the only person living in a world of pain.
That expression and Desiderata’s words strengthened my resolve and I sought to understand others more deeply and overcome my own pain in the process. We are so restrained by our own world of pain that most of us never leave that reality. Now I see that you should not let that pain and adversity stop you from desiring to be great.
We desire to be accepted and be loved – human nature defines it. But it’s hard to see love’s true form and easy to seek fake companionship, false acceptance, and selfish lust masquerading as love. We are quick in taking illusions, painting them in our image, and labeling them as love. But that fake love is exclusive and I only was to see those confined to the cold gloom of hospitals, prisons, and slums – the “unloved.” Desiderata helped me come to know a concept that people spend their whole lives trying to make sense of –the true sense of love.
Love is universal, patient enough to forgive, and is unconditional enough to redeem. One summer camp experience reinforced this conclusion. I spent my summer at a lakeside camp in New York with people like me – children diagnosed since birth with mortal illnesses. The camp’s counselors and other supervisors were caring to say the least. I saw them talk to terminal children - not about the pain that society says they are cursed to be born with, but about hope and dreams for the future. These counselors were just ordinary men and women themselves who had problems of their own, but brought light to blind children and hope to desperate children. It is not enough being there for the one you love, but being there with them. I am sure that every child that left that camp felt blessed to experience love in its truest sense and not the disillusioned world of false love.
Life brings many problems; I find it difficult to keep peace in the noisy confusion of life. I still get anxious and weary in the face of adversity, but Desiderata’s words continue to be a source of inspiration and guidance. With becoming of age brings pain, doubt, and the “sham” of lost love as we know it. I desire to learn from past mistakes, and find the balance between desire and need. “We are children of the universe and we all have as much a right to be here,” are words from that poem reminding me to keep my head up.
Hopes and dreams will follow you to your very end, they will define you. Society is hostile to dreamers, but I believe society is indeed wrong as there can be no line between dream and reality. As I now realize, dreams are quick to be made reality. I desire to dream even when I am rudely awakened by life’s unpredictable turmoil.
All Things Desired
Written by Dawn
“Strive for love, virtue, and placidity in a world of hatred, blindness, and drudgery” – a message from the poem of Desiderata, that helped to shape my philosophy. Translated in Latin as “all things desired,” Desiderata explains what we should really strive for. The poem underlines that we all desire things, maybe we desire to be athletic, wise, famed, or beautiful. Yet we are kept in bounds by society that dreams, wishes and wants are nothing more than mere flights of fancy.
Desiderata scolds us of a broken world, broken hearts, and broken dreams. We are encouraged to separate our wants from our needs; fulfill our place in this universe and fit that place obediently. Live without regrets away from our world’s vexations and tribulations. I came to know Desiderata’s words, but knowing is not the same thing as understanding. I questioned such an ideal and it was something very foreign to me.
I know that this world is a cycle of pain; a system that is indescribable, indefinable, and inevitable. No one desires pain, but I saw it as if Desiderata explains that pain is necessary and only by the support of each other can we grow to overcome our troubles. I have heard the expression of walking in another’s shoes, that you don’t truly know a person until you know his or her pain. Growing up I had my share of great pains and detested others for not understanding my pain. After hearing that expression I opened up to others’ pain – poverty, divorce, sickness, and death. I learned quickly that I wasn’t the only person living in a world of pain.
That expression and Desiderata’s words strengthened my resolve and I sought to understand others more deeply and overcome my own pain in the process. We are so restrained by our own world of pain that most of us never leave that reality. Now I see that you should not let that pain and adversity stop you from desiring to be great.
We desire to be accepted and be loved – human nature defines it. But it’s hard to see love’s true form and easy to seek fake companionship, false acceptance, and selfish lust masquerading as love. We are quick in taking illusions, painting them in our image, and labeling them as love. But that fake love is exclusive and I only was to see those confined to the cold gloom of hospitals, prisons, and slums – the “unloved.” Desiderata helped me come to know a concept that people spend their whole lives trying to make sense of –the true sense of love.
Love is universal, patient enough to forgive, and is unconditional enough to redeem. One summer camp experience reinforced this conclusion. I spent my summer at a lakeside camp in New York with people like me – children diagnosed since birth with mortal illnesses. The camp’s counselors and other supervisors were caring to say the least. I saw them talk to terminal children - not about the pain that society says they are cursed to be born with, but about hope and dreams for the future. These counselors were just ordinary men and women themselves who had problems of their own, but brought light to blind children and hope to desperate children. It is not enough being there for the one you love, but being there with them. I am sure that every child that left that camp felt blessed to experience love in its truest sense and not the disillusioned world of false love.
Life brings many problems; I find it difficult to keep peace in the noisy confusion of life. I still get anxious and weary in the face of adversity, but Desiderata’s words continue to be a source of inspiration and guidance. With becoming of age brings pain, doubt, and the “sham” of lost love as we know it. I desire to learn from past mistakes, and find the balance between desire and need. “We are children of the universe and we all have as much a right to be here,” are words from that poem reminding me to keep my head up.
Hopes and dreams will follow you to your very end, they will define you. Society is hostile to dreamers, but I believe society is indeed wrong as there can be no line between dream and reality. As I now realize, dreams are quick to be made reality. I desire to dream even when I am rudely awakened by life’s unpredictable turmoil.
? hehe
