Month: April 2016

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The Whirligig Connects Them All

Celtic KnotThe Celtic Knot: an image symbolizing the Celtic’s belief of inter-connectedness in life, eternity, and death. The Celtics believed that everything is connected in some way or another, that the universe is aligned just so that there is a balance of pain and joy, war and peace, life and death. They believed there is no life without death, peace without war, etc…

So far in Whirligig, we have encountered many themes. At the half-way point of this 133 page novel, Brent has been through a lot. Everything is set in motion when he attends a party, is publicly humiliated, and causes a car crush in a drunken, suicidal haze. While he suffers only minor injuries, he does kill a girl, Lea, who he later learns from her mother, was consistently spreading joy wherever she went. The mother of the murdered girl offers a depressed, isolated Brent a chance at restitution – he will go around the country and build whirligigs in the pursuit of his penance and spreading Lea’s positive spirit. Brent meets a few people on his journey and they greatly ameliorate his motivation for what he is doing. It’s why one of the main themes of the novel is interconnectedness, the ripple effect – Any actions someone does can influence the lives of others.

In Whirligig, we get to see how Brent’s actions and creations influence the lives of those he has and never will meet. For example, the Puerto-Rican street-sweeper sees a whirligig Brent inevitably builds and it effectively wraps up the man’s thoughts and worries about his life, answering the EQ “How do the actions of others influence our own lives?”.  Prior to seeing the whirligig, the man was in a state of confusion where there seemed to be a constant war going on and he could not figure out why. The man just could not find anything but wars around people, but then he sees the whirligig of a little wooden band, playing in harmony. It inspires him to go back home to his family, but he also talks about how people must work in groups, that there is a reason animals stick together. We rely on others, and there is a balance that must be achieved. This later influences Brent, out of pure coincidence, when he is almost robbed and understands “why animals travel in herds” (p. 66).

Also in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Brent admires the stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair who form the Summer Triangle, but are also the brightest stars of their respective constellations. These constellations are connected to each other because of a certain set of phenomena that put them in line with each other, just as Brent is connected to all those in his karass, although he may not know it. Brent is connected to those who have influenced his life, but also to those lives that he has influenced by building the whirligigs. Because time and space aligned just right, all the characters we meet in the story are interconnected through the whirligigs and their lives are influenced.

 

 

(Ha. See what I did there, in that last sentence? Used wording from the EQ and applied it to the situations in the book and linked it to the theme. Clever, eh?)

 

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Forgiveness – Whirligig Pre-Reading Assignment

Forgiveness is defined as “the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well.”

According to the citation above, I am not a forgiving person.

However, I am not vengeful either.

There is never any glory in a personal tragedy. There is pain that threatens to consume you, and sometimes it does. It is unsteady hands and sleepless nights filled with thoughts of self-doubt and longing for what once was. It is anger spilling over the edges in loud fights, followed by heavy silences where everyone regrets what they have said because something terrible has happened and we should not be getting mad at each other. If anything, we should be mad at the person who has caused it.

Apparently these emotions go away when you “forgive”. But I’d have every right to be angry with the person who has wronged me or my loved ones.

There is a quote that accurately represents my thoughts on forgiveness, but possibly not in the way it reflects the opinions of others.

“Forgiveness is my gift to you; moving on is my gift to myself.”

Forgiveness is something you do to, as the definition says, “wish the offender well”. But I wouldn’t want them to be well! I’d be angry because they have caused me pain and I would want revenge. However, I am smart enough to know that nothing good ever comes out of a lust for vengeance.

So I would move on, because that’s what life must do. However, that does not mean I need to forgive. I would not owe the offender the peace of mind in what they have done, but I would owe myself the opportunity to continue my life. So I would remain angry, because it is my right. But I would not let it stop me from moving on from the tragedy. And if that makes any sense, then I am glad. If it doesn’t, well, redemption never has either. It is messy, but it is life.