“All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.”
– James Thurber
I
view journal writing as a pathway to live out the Greek proverb “Know thyself,”
frequently voiced by Socrates in Plato’s writings. Author James Thurber
encourages us to reflect on what we’re running from, working toward and, most
importantly, why—a sure way to help us better know ourselves.
As
a creative writing teacher, I asked my students to consider the space between
the “experiencing-I” and the “reflective-I” in essays we examined. The first is
the person who lives in the moment—the woman who quits her job and hops on a
stranger’s motorcycle on a Wednesday afternoon. The second is the older version
of herself who reflects back on that moment to make sense of it—to process what
she was running from, to consider what she hoped to find, and, of course, to
figure out why. It’s in that reflection that we see character growth.
What have you been running
from?
Where are you headed? Why?
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