| The Elephant ManFirst and foremost, I'm not even sure if anybody still uses xanga, but I think this is appropriate, even as a reminder to myself. I just finished my last final EVER yesterday; from here on, I'm stepping into a new chapter of my life, perhaps into adulthood... something that I've been both anticipating and dreading, but am inevitably nearing. Currently, I'm reading Dean Koontz' "Forever Odd," and found something worth noting, thus this entry. They exhibited him as a freak. Women fainted at the sight of him, children wept, tough men flinched. He was loathed and reviled. Yet a century later a movie was based on his life, and we know his name. Who knows the name of the bastard who owned him and put him on exhibit, or the names of those who fainted or wept, or flinched? They're dust, and he's immortal. He made a difference in my life. Despite of the fact that Merrick (the elephant man), was put on sideshow at carnivals and mocked for his appearance, he is someone that I look up to. In his journals, he noted that he was never upset at the people for mocking and bullying him, instead, he thanked God for giving him such a condition, so that he could earn money for his freakshow endeavors, which was later stolen by his promoter in Belgium. He had to sit upright to sleep because of his deformities, and died at the age of 27. He had such a tough life, but despite the many obstacles he faced, he was happy and gave back to those around him; yet, in our frutifulness of being healthy and well, living in big, warm houses with brand names on our back, we find ways to complain and to be discontent. Boy do we suck. |
wow... how true?
