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My view on future (based on a Victor Hugo quote)

by Aliicide


“The future has many names: For the weak, it means the unattainable. For the fearful, it means the unknown. For the courageous, it means opportunity.”

For the ones that are not weak, fearful or courageous, the future is simply something we, humans, made up. Representing just a product of our fascinating imagination, it cannot be defined or experienced. It has no starting point and it always ends up as being our past.

The weak ones are not able to write scenarios or dream as they no longer hope for something exceptional. Moreover, they settled so they no longer try to change. Being dead inside, their minds are letting them fade.

The fearful are the ones who assume that their lives are following a well-written path and that no matter what, they will end up accomplishing what they were truly meant to. Who can blame them for thinking so, when we are fed up with both the idea of God’s existence and the idea of making arbitrary decisions? Ordinarily, they notice the unknown when they picture the future for they are insignificant pieces in one man’s puzzle, who is just fooling around.

The courageous are those thinking outside the box, those who want to explore and witness that life is about more than just living. By seeking out, by believing that they can do further about their futures, they already win something. Furthermore, they look at the future as a painting they acquire to create and design with their own lives. By doing so, they meet no barriers such as death, because they succeed to live forever through their art.

We cannot just hatch scenarios in our heads and force ourselves to follow them, but by making them up we get empowered to actually live and not wait for an inevitable ending with our eyes closed.


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Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:37 pm
kaitlyn wrote a review...



Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night(whichever one it is in your part of the world),

Hi! I'm here to leave a quick review!!

Anyway let's get right to it,

“The future has many names: For the weak, it means the unattainable. For the fearful, it means the unknown. For the courageous, it means opportunity.”

For the ones that are not weak, fearful or courageous, the future is simply something we, humans, made up. Representing just a product of our fascinating imagination, it cannot be defined or experienced. It has no starting point and it always ends up as being our past.

The weak ones are not able to write scenarios or dream as they no longer hope for something exceptional. Moreover, they settled so they no longer try to change. Being dead inside, their minds are letting them fade.


Okayy...so this is interesting....it appears we have exactly what the title says here, which isn't something you see and well, as far as that's concerned. Aaand, it is interesting, this piece seems somewhat philosophical rather than anything else here, but it is an interesting take on the idea of a future.

The fearful are the ones who assume that their lives are following a well-written path and that no matter what, they will end up accomplishing what they were truly meant to. Who can blame them for thinking so, when we are fed up with both the idea of God’s existence and the idea of making arbitrary decisions? Ordinarily, they notice the unknown when they picture the future for they are insignificant pieces in one man’s puzzle, who is just fooling around.


Hmm...this seems to be in line with sort of the general idea of a future that most tend to have, and this is particularly a look at how some people unfortunately tend to trap themselves with their views. Its a fun little descriptor I think because in some level this is all rather relatable to all of us and the way this is all being summed up creates a very interesting set of images in one's mind.

The courageous are those thinking outside the box, those who want to explore and witness that life is about more than just living. By seeking out, by believing that they can do further about their futures, they already win something. Furthermore, they look at the future as a painting they acquire to create and design with their own lives. By doing so, they meet no barriers such as death, because they succeed to live forever through their art.

We cannot just hatch scenarios in our heads and force ourselves to follow them, but by making them up we get empowered to actually live and not wait for an inevitable ending with our eyes closed.


I think you've capped this off quite nicely here in this part with the whole thing sort of counteracting what you listed off in the previous bit. It shows kind of I suppose the opposite way to think about the future and imagine and its a nice little symmetry there to end on. There does seem to be a bit of a weight towards that second one suggesting, it is the better thing, but either way, I think you've created a pretty neat scene here. :D

Aaaaand that's it for this one.

As always remember to take what you think was helpful and forget the rest.

Stay Safe
Harry




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Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:03 pm
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Mea wrote a review...



Hey there! I thought I'd drop by for a quick review on this interesting piece.

Overall, I think you did a pretty good job with this, especially considering your very limited word count. I thought your interpretation of the quote was definitely interesting.

I think the biggest way to improve this would be to try to explain and support your interpretations a bit more. Right now, although I really like your thoughts on the courageous, the others don't make as much sense to me.

For the ones that are not weak, fearful or courageous, the future is simply something we, humans, made up.

Who are these people? I don't know that you'll find anyone that thinks the future is something we made up. It's a concept, and our understanding of it is certainly limited by our perception of time, but that doesn't mean it has no bearing on the real world. It's a little like saying we "made up" the laws of physics. Yes, we created equations to express certain concepts, but the concepts reflect the real world.

I also thought your definition of the fearful as those who believe in fate was... odd, to say the least. Fear is almost always of the unknown - fate means there is no unknown. It's actually much more likely to inspire either excitement and joy or lethargy and hopelessness (depending on what your fate it) rather than fear. And since you say that they think they'll end up accomplishing "what they were truly meant to," why are they afraid?

Who can blame them for thinking so, when we are fed up with both the idea of God’s existence and the idea of making arbitrary decisions?

This really confused me, as it seemed like you're saying that since we're so fed up with the idea of God, who can blame them for believing in fate. And that just doesn't make sense, since belief in fate is usually associated with a belief in God, and is usually somewhat arbitrary. If they're fed up with that, why do they believe in fate?

Your thoughts on the courageous are more cohesive - I especially liked the image of these people living forever through their art, even if it's just the art of a life well-lived.

Your conclusion did seem to tie all three together. The only thing I would suggest (and I'd do this for the work as a whole) is to try to edit it so it flows better. Right now, it reads rather stiff and like you're not quite comfortable with the words and sentence structures you're using. Pay attention to the flow of the words - read it out loud, that can help.

And that's all I've got! Good luck, and keep writing.




Aliicide says...


Hello!
Thank you very much for your review! I was unable to see beyond my first impression and almost everything you said makes sense. I can say that my "short story" changed radically, following kind of the same idea, but using your advice and other advice I was given here. I understand that the "idea of God%u2019s existence and the idea of making arbitrary decisions" was confusing, mostly because you say that choosing to believe in God is somewhat arbitrary. I was trying to surprise the idea that most people are born with the idea of God's existence so these people don't make their own (goalless maybe) decisions since everything they do is part of God's plan.
Overall, it was a great review and I really appreciate your time!



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Mon Feb 27, 2017 3:52 pm
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PrincessInk wrote a review...



Hello, Aliicide! I'm here for a review.

I think you did a nice job interpreting Victor Hugo's quote.

But I thought the person you're addressing in the first sentence

For the ones that are not weak, fearful or courageous, the future is simply something we, humans, made up.


It shifted from "ones" to "we". It was slightly confusing.

For the second paragraph, I felt as though it was kind of skimpy. I would have liked more meaningful content inside. I'm not saying that your paragraph has no meaningful content; it does, but it's less compared to the next two paragraphs.

And I thought that the first sentence of the third paragraph slightly echoes the first (this is just a personal opinion). But my interpretation of your paragraph is that the fearful are afraid to stray from their path. I liked the subtlety.

I also liked the metaphor of a painting in the fourth paragraph. But I wish you could work the painting metaphor into the previous two paragraphs. It would be coherent. And the fourth to fifth paragraph does not flow particularly well (I know it's hard to connect between your last statement and the conclusion).

But overall, the majority of your sentences were clear and to the point and your composition was concise and sweet. However, you might need a little coherence between your paragraphs but other than that your writing style is great!

Sincerely,
Princess Ink




Aliicide says...


Hello!
I worked on the way I'm addressing in each paragraph so it won't be confusing because thanks to you I realized that. I changed the story quite radically, I worked the painting metaphor into all of the paragraphs. I also worked on the coherence and I hope to have succeeded with that. I would like to know your opinion on the new one, that if you are willing to read it because thanks to you I think it looks better now. Anyway, thank you very much for this review!!




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