Friday, October 19, 2007

Stories

Finishing:
On NPR this morning they were talking about War and Peace, the new translation, and the woman reporting said, in her closing thoughts, "I'm going to finish this book." While that book in particular may be long, I thought, why are we so hell-bent on "finishing" everything. What is it that makes us so geared to win the race? I just think if she said to herself, "I'm really going to enjoy this book," she might look forward to picking it up a little more, yes?

Quiet:
On the walk to the train this morning, a young mother with two children were going to my neighborhood school. The two kids were shouting and she was speaking to them in nice low tones about how not to shout and how some people, like doctors, were still sleeping. They got real quiet and looked around at the windows. The mother said, "some people have worked all night and there is no need to shout and wake them up." And the smallest girl in the world, with the tiniest glasses cocked her head to me walking next to her and in a whisper said, "Are you sleeping?"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe that actually happened!

Unknown said...

Hey Ada,
I love your blog! I put a link to it on mine--hope that's OK. Stop by sometime!
Take care,
Amy

shanna said...

aw! sweet.

Lee Herrick said...

I enjoyed your interview on kicking wind and found you through the article way back in Poets and Writers. I like it here. Funny story about the smallest girl in the world, and about your idea on the acceptance of not finishing, I say yes!---I've enjoyed the first third of Crime and Punishment about five times now. One of the days maybe I'll get to the second third. Will I finish? Who knows. Peace, Ada.