This evening I bring to you another quote from Moby Dick, and no, it has nothing, or at least very little, to do with environmentalism. It's an unlikely quote. But after I read it I stopped. I tried to move on but I couldn't. The quote is this:
"D'ye mark him, Flask?" whispered Stubb; "the chick that's in him pecks the shell. 'Twill soon be out."
Unlikely, right? Stubb is, after all, speaking conspiratorially to Flask about Ahab's mentally and socially disturbed behavior. But read it again, the way that I couldn't help but read it:
"The chick that's in [you] pecks the shell. 'Twill soon be out."
What an amazing metaphor, isn't it? The concept of becoming who you are meant to be isn't a fairytale for the young; it is a construct for what human existence can really mean. We can constantly be reborn; be transformed. And, most exciting of all, sometimes we can feel or hear that little 'tap tap' from within, letting us know we are on the right track. That we will soon emerge, ready to take on, or gracefully learn how to handle, new experiences.
2 comments:
Wow, love it! Thanks so much for sharing, Jen!
I really liked this post too -- I was just overwhelmingly busy when you posted it. You and Neal really make me want to read "Moby Dick." (And really I like all your blog posts. Literally.)
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