There is my father whispering in my ear, Be still still still. And yet you change everything. What was the marsh like, waiting for the storm before you came and kneeled in the water? It was nothing. Watch after you leave the water, now cold and regretful, miles from home, certain of the belt on your backside, the cold shoulder, the extra chores; watch. Watch the water heal itself of your presence--not to repair injury but to offer itself again should you care to risk another strapping [...].
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the themes of change, regret, and the cyclical nature of existence.
In this quote, Paul Harding explores the relationship between the past and the present, capturing the tension between parental guidance and personal growth. The imagery of water healing after a presence implies that while actions may leave a mark, nature has a way of rejuvenating itself, much like human emotions and relationships that endure through trials and learn to embrace change.
In practice
In a speech about embracing personal growth, one might reference this quote to highlight the importance of learning from the past.
I was ravenous for my child and took to gorging myself in the boneyard, hoping that she might possibly meet me halfway, or just beyond, one night, if only for an instant—step back into her own bare feet, onto the wet grass or fallen leaves or snowy ground of the living Enon, so that we could share just one last human word.
And as the ax bites into the wood, be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it.
Once the command of the air is obtained by one of the contending armies, the war becomes a conflict between a seeing host and one that is blind.
In the past the need for a hierarchal form of society has been the doctrine specifically of the High. It had been preached by kings and aristocrats and the priests, lawyers and the like who were parasitical upon them, and it had generally been softened by promises of an imaginary world beyond the grave.
The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil.
The trouble with these people is that their cities have never been bombed and their mothers have never been told to shut up.
No theory changes what it is a theory about; man remains what he has always been.
...to return to their 'native soil,' as they say, to the bosom, so to speak, of their mother earth, like frightened children, yearning to fall asleep on the withered bosom of their decrepit mother, and to sleep there for ever, only to escape the horrors that terrify them.
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