We wait till now? Now, when we're old men, we get to be brave?
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the hesitation to act bravely until it's too late in life.
Ernest Gaines highlights the regret of waiting until old age to embrace bravery. It serves as a poignant reminder that opportunities for courage and action should not be postponed, as life is fleeting, and waiting for the 'right' moment can lead to missed chances and unfulfilled potential.
In practice
In a motivational speech encouraging young people to take risks.
I was raised by a lady that was crippled all her life but she did everything for me and she raised me. She washed our clothes, cooked our food, she did everything for us. I don't think I ever heard her complain a day in her life. She taught me responsibility towards my brother and sisters and the community.
...my heart may have been in it but my soul was not.
Everything's been said, but it needs saying again.
Question everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything.
The Six Golden Rules of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write.
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?
I'm not the sort to back away from a fight. I don't believe in shrinking from anything. It's not my speed; I'm a guy who meets adversities head on.
Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins.
Group conformity scares the pants off me because it's so often a prelude to cruelty towards anyone who doesn't want to - or can't - join the Big Parade.
An act of heroism, of extraordinary courage, the grandeur of it, won't easily inspire us to act in imitation, but it can inspire us to emulate its author. For that, we should learn what we can of the whole experience of the subject, the hero's life, as it was before and after, and believe that trying to emulate the character it reveals is one tried way to prepare for the tests that might await us and gain hope that our courage will not be wanting in the moment.
If we wish to free ourselves from enslavement, we must choose freedom and the responsibility this entails.
It takes a great deal of courage and independence to decide to design your own image instead of the one that society rewards, but it gets easier as you go along.
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