A boy told me if he roller-skated fast enough his loneliness couldn't catch up to him, the best reason I ever heard for trying to be a champion. What I wonder tonight pedaling hard down King William Street is if it translates to bicycles. A victory! To leave your loneliness panting behind you on some street corner while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas, pink petals that have never felt loneliness, no matter how slowly they fell.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the idea of overcoming loneliness through personal achievements and moments of joy.
In this thought-provoking quote, the author presents a metaphorical connection between physical activity—such as roller-skating and biking—and the desire to overcome feelings of loneliness. The vivid imagery of leaving loneliness behind is contrasted with the beauty of blooming azaleas, suggesting that personal triumphs can lead to moments of happiness and freedom from emotional burdens.
In practice
In a motivational talk about perseverance in sports, one could invoke this quote to inspire young athletes.
It is really hard to be lonely very long in a world of words. Even if you don't have friends somewhere, you still have language, and it will find you and wrap its little syllables around you and suddenly there will be a story to live in.
I am looking for the human who admits his flaws Who shocks the adversary By being kinder not stronger What would that be like? We don't even know
I love the solitude of reading. I love the deep dive into someone else's story, the delicious ache of a last page.
I think whenever you love something or somebody it means that you have to extend yourself, you have to grow - get a little larger. You can't stay in your little comfortable - spot.
As a direct line to human feeling, empathic experience, genuine language and detail, poetry is everything that headline news is not. It takes us inside situations, helps us imagine life from more than one perspective, honors imagery and metaphor - those great tools of thought - and deepens our confidence in a meaningful world.
I support all people on earth who have bodies like and unlike my body.
It always takes longer than you expect, even if you take Hofstadter's Law into account.
It is a disaster that wisdom forbids you to be satisfied with yourself and always sends you away dissatisfied and fearful, whereas stubbornness and foolhardiness fill their hosts with joy and assurance.
Small things start us in new ways of thinking
Knowledge is only potential power.
It's impossible to speak what it is not noble to do.
We can never make ourselves better by trying... praying more or longer, studying more of the Word, performing good works, etc. Don't get me wrong... it's not bad to do any of these things. In fact, it's good. It's just that doing them in God's power is the only way those things will have any real and lasting effect in our lives.
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