The childhood of everybody is full of stories with a happy end. They happened to appear in the all time favorite fairytales. Cinderella put on the glass slipper and married the prince. Snow White incidentally spit out the poisonous apple and lived happily ever after with prince Charming. What if there was another girl with small size that matched Cinderella’s foot? Or maybe Snow White did not fall dead because she choked and she was really food poisoned? This is where real life happens. People become so cynical and distant from the happy endings that they forget to try and fight for them. I couldn't help it wonder: how are happy endings supposed to happen if people never do the grand gestures?
I have always admired people that are able to apologize. I really believe in the power of the simple “I am sorry.” It has the power to open the doors of most people’s hearts. Recently I met the person that rocked my little perfect world of happy people that received apologies and lived happily ever after. I have to admit that I hurt him. The sentence is: GUILTY. I know people that make grand surprises, nice gestures, and everything possible to get mercy. I just apologized but not once or twice! Yet, my success seems to disappear like the Fairy Godmother.
Yesterday I had an epiphany. How am I supposed to be forgiven if I am so proud and scared of doing something meaningful for a person, who means that much for me? In the world where romance sounds cliché, love is an illusion, and physical beauty had replaced the value of the soul, people had become so concerned with their own pride that they are afraid of showing love and care. I don’t want to be that person, so maybe I will go and buy the perfect gift, get a cab, and stay in the rain. Even if he does not forgive me I will know that I am the girl who made the grand gesture to earn the trust of the person she had hurt.
Maybe there was a girl that matched Cinderella’s foot, and maybe Snow White could have been food poisoned. These events would have certainly influenced the happy ending. They did not happen, though. A chance was given to the survival of happiness. People really are cynical, and they are scared of exposing their souls, but it’s the few people that try to make a change that matter. Fear is not an excuse, it’s a shelter. People are supposed to get out from there and try to make the happy end happen.
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ReplyDeleteYour second story called “Happy Endings: Why they don’t happen?” is really a special piece of work. I have not read anything similar to this, and it is very good, if I may say. The style it is written in is very high and the choice of words is very well made. Every single piece of writing has pluses or minuses (except Shakespeare’s).
ReplyDeleteOk, so there several pluses to this wonderful story. Where should I start? The beginning on one hand is very good. Denying the clear happy ending in some way is genius. Questioning what would have happened if one of the small elements changed would lead to the overall change in the result. A second plus is that you show what kind of person you really are I really believe in the power of the simple “I am sorry.” It is good that you as a writer give an example of who you are in order to try and prove your main idea. The piece of writing is filled with extraordinary examples such as you in the rain or the deep taught found in the end of the writing “Fear is not an excuse, it’s a shelter.” I like this writing because with simple words you have been able to explain and convince, at least me, that you are right.
The minuses are not that many, but they do exist. You should have given a clearer example of what happens when you say sorry and it does not work. As you know there are cases that words are not able to heal and you can hear “Sorry doesn’t work for me…” You should have explained why people are cynical these days. Why have people become who they are these days? It would be nice for the reader to know why people do not expose their souls. These are elements of every day life, which everybody knows, but nobody talks about. If they are mentioned in the story it would be a much stronger piece of writing.
I love your piece of writing.
ReplyDeleteI think that the topic you have chosen is really appropriate for your audience (juniors and seniors), because right now we are starting to understand that the world is not always fair and that the things happening in the fairytales and Hollywood movies do not seem to happen in real life. I read it several times, and I like almost every part of it. The essay is amazing because it is private but at the same time concerns all the people around the world who are scared to show their emotions (their fear, their regret…). I like the way you have structured your essay. Your style of writing is awesome. The rhetoric questions are really helpful. As I was reading the introduction of your paper, I immediately started thinking what my opinion on the problem is and I believe that making the reader part of your piece is really important. I think that your essay would have been even greater, if you had given more than one example to convince your readers that your point of view is the right one.
Great job!