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But of course a sensitive person would realise that this kind of behaviour will only spread unhappiness.

So the girl is bringing this on herself as well.

She is not so different from her mother after all.

In a way the mother braught this on herself.

Did she herself look after her own parents – thus teaching her daughter?

Did she even talk to her daughter about her duties as one?

Shouldn’t she be more independant and not rely on her daughter for her own happiness?

Shouldn’t she now speak up and perhaps warn the daughter that this fate may well await her as she aged?

Parents should assume nothing is obvious to children. Communication is the answer.

I liked Craig in Casino

But the best for me is Roger Moore (sorry Avicster).

Nonchalant, smooth and swave and always with a wink..

Nice.

Well, I guess in the way that for all the trees you can’t see the wood.

Too many words, too many symbols, too much ideas, thoughts and, well, going around in circles for one to peacefully and quietly enjoy the poems.(without getting a headache that is).

Maybe it is just that today we are so used to short versions of literature, of everything actually…

But as I said I enjoyed the “pearls” that you cited.

Thanx

Isn’t he the guy who wrote about cats?

I like the lines about the faces, but

I find him a bit too much.

On that note I hope he does not show weakness in dealing with terrorist groups/supporting countries.

I think that to them “talks” signal weakness and a go ahead with their diabolic plans. Being naive and hopeful may not be the right things a free world needs…

But! He did approve budget for abortion clinics And a go ahead for stem-cell research which I personally am all for.

So as agreed, we’ll have to wait and see before judgment.

I don’t know who the “real” Barack Obama is, I guess he will be judged by his actions.

I do know that I felt a kind of a brain-washing euphoria descend on me as I watched his election into office and immediatly began to fight it.

How can any one decide in advance if a democratically elected president is going to be good or bad for the world? Shouldn’t we wait and see?

I hope he turns into all that people say he is and can do, most certainly, for myself, I and not the media will be a judge of that.

He realized he was strangely attracted to her granddaughter who was standing beside her, a very nice looking girl with…

Oh, and always make a list of what you have/need/want to do next.

That way you can free your brain for a while and rest, as everything is down on paper and you will approach it later.

I know this always works for me when I feel overwhelmed.

I know, I became very philosophical all of a sudden…

Are these the best years of my life? I don’t know.

I may know in a few years.

What seems like a wonderful time of my life was fraught with anxieties that are forgotten.

Someone once said: I do not live in the present, I am only of the past and for the future.

Someone else said: there is no such thing as a passage of time. Time does not pass. It is always there. It is us, the people who pass in it. Therefore we live in a constant present.

Which of them is right?

Perhaps both..?

Enough of this!

To sleep.

For me visualizing the outcome helps a lot.

What I mean is this: suppose something goes wrong; you’ve contracted some ilness or you didn’t get that job you were so certain about after that interview or The Guy just broke up with you and so on.

First imagine the worst about that situation. You’ll need hospitalization, suffer, even die! You won’t have money for rent or anything else for that matter. You are now single again (enough said).

Then tell yourself: and what if that worse happens, then what? Someone will help me, someone will remember me, I’ve done some good in this world.

Start planning; if this or that happens, what shall I do. where will I go, whom shall I turn to, what can I do. Read about my situation online, find answers, look for any kind of job, have a baby on my own and so on.

Then I think you start to relax – just by having a plan.

Will you follow that plan? will you need to? Doesn’t matter.

Now you are relaxed you can figure out things more clearly.

You can visualize the morning after.

Good points!

I guess it’s true that some adults would want to go back in time and some wouldn’t. I guess it has to do with what kind of childhood/teens one’s had. The popular ones would love to experience it again, the ones that were taunted – not so much. And again that’s a bit oversymplified. There are so many factors, specific periods, occasions and so on.

It’s also true that the feeling you may have when young that you can achieve just about anything you set your mind to can be replaced by a disappointment at the obstacles life’s thrown your way.

But the remedy to that I guess is adjusting your dreams and counting your blessings.

Have you seen the new series “Being Erica” by the way? I didn’t like the actress (too neurotic for my taste) but the idea was interesting – that of going back in time to correct past mistakes only to make new ones! Fixing one situation may cause unforseen problems in another. Interesting!

Anyway back to the main issue – I agree with oLahav – young does not necessarily mean innocence, carefree wonderful life. Maybe it’s the adults who raise us or the natural cruelness and selfishness that children posses but it is not without its trials. Maybe that’s what prepares us for the “real” life ahead and if we live in a kind of dream or fantasy about it we may all end up like Holden Caulfield…

A fellow alien, just arrived. “Look here” he said, “I don’t know what you’re doing but I’ve been sent to find you. The chief is very concerned. Have you forgotten your mission? Don’t you remember that you have to…

Oh well, I do beg to disagree!

For one I think the movie was too long.

Therefore I found it a bit boring and quite predictable.

The similarity to FG was annoying to me. How many more tough but sensitive sea captains are there?(at the risk of sounding awfully cynical).

True that nothing perfect lasts forever, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Someone once said that life is never short. It is indeed the longest thing to experience until you die.

And ask a child what he wants and the answer will be : to grow up. To experience things. Most definitely not to remain young.

And for that matter: ask almost any adult if they would like to be a child or a teen again and I believe the answer would be No.

What, to return to those days of dependancy, cruel peers, annoying adults, no freedom and so on? No Way!

Sorry but away with the cliches for me.

Am I being too blunt?

Can you view these views as new and fresh, unusual, sure, but interesting for all that? I am not expressing them just to be contrite, I really do believe they’re solid, But I am trying to fence off the counter attack.

But feel free of course to disagree

O to be in England now that April’s there

Or something like that.

A memory, a yearning to a place

very powerfull in my eyes

I found it passable at best. Forrest Gump anyone?

I won’t write about The Catcher anymore as I do believe that I said all I had to say about it. It is certainly a thought-provoking book, if nothing else.

God may have created a perfect creature – but He gave him the ability to choose and that, I guess, made all the difference. Man could have lived, blissfully unaware, in paradise forever…

And on that subject – it is my belief that violence is unavoidable in our world as it is such an inherent part of man’s nature (not necessarily of womens’ by the way). But is it necessarily detrimental to man kind?

Violence=survival skills=inovations=better life quality and so on.

At least that’s one way of looking at it…

Is self-defence also considered violence? Is protecting your near and dear a violent action? If you strike your enemy before he gets the chance to strike you – even when he is in the midst of planning the attack, are you the aggressor here? Where do you draw the line? How can you tell? How do you know?

Not all is as it seems, sometimes the victim is not the victim at all, sometimes violence is the answer. And sometimes it is not. The world is most certainly not black &white.

And that’s a good thing after all. Imagine how boring it would be otherwise..

I wish sometimes that I could read a book without analysing it…

What would it feel like? Just to enjoy or not without knowing why.

But I guess it is as realistic as drinking a new martini without forming any opinion.

I don’t know..

I think Caulfield relates much of what Salinger believes himself. But as this is too much of a high standart (to use your quote) to live by, he prefers to leave it all together. Hopefully temporarily so for himself, seems not so for his creator.

An unreliable narrator should give you the sense that what he believes and feels subjectively is not so in the reality of the story. Did you get that feeling in The Catcher? I did not. I got the feeling that all the phony, superficial unpleasant characters that Caulfield describes are really so and the question is – what do you choose to do about it. By the way I know an excellent short story that portrays a REAL unreliable narrator. It’s called: “My Side of the Matter” and it’s by Truman Capote.

I don’t always agree with Wikipedia.

“Phony” religious red neck conservatives are only bigots if they assume that scholarly liberals are always wrong about everything. If they don’t assume that and ALWAYS judge and form their own opinios based on what they hear and see (and most definitely not on what they hear through the media) than how can they be bigots? I guess you get all kinds.. By the same token I guess that not all “open minded” liberal scholars are patronizing bigots but do you know what? I think that they tend to be more so because they will seldom question themselves or get scrutinized by others. Certainly no one will call them stupid – although in a lot of cases they are..

Oh well, I guess I have my own prejudices, like everyone else..

Oh please don’t read the Bible like a horror story. Suppose that someone would describe what’s going on in this day and age.. Has so much changed since those days? Turning children into ruthless war machines and so on.. Again I do believe that what is described there is basic human characteristics. By the way Elisha did some pretty good things too… I think that what happend to those children shows his greatness – what a great prophet he is. And yes by our standarts it sounds terrible but in an “eye for an eye”era.. And who’s to say what is better? Certainly it is less phony… And yes, those children were his enemies at that time. Children can do terrible things..

I know, I know, you don’t agree with me. Probably even shudder with horror at my insensitivity…How can I say that about little children, horrid as they may be, in the Biblical context as it is…Well, that’s the beauty of being able to speak one’s mind without fear of being labeled. And I wonder what I would find if being allowed to probe just a bit deeper into your inner soul.. Are there no prejudices, rigidity of thought, hate or fear lurking there? OK, maybe I’ve gone too far. Foregive me, I am really tired, It seems like I spent hours writing here.

Shall we agree to disagree?