.
This ought to be a very good discussion. I hope it turns out that way.
Not to be critical for the sake of criticism, but rather for constructive
improvement (constructive criticism - which is a good thing!), I have
a suggestion for the following paragraph:
...NOTE: I have attempted to be as objective as possible. Please do not imply anything that isn't explicitly stated. For example, when I say, "Optimism has run out, and frustration has come out on top." I am not implying whether or not the person is justified for going that route. There are plenty of situations where it is called for to give up on optimism, and for frustration to lead you to try something else. Maybe you sat in gridlock traffic for 5 hours, and decided you should turn off your car, lock it, and walk away. Or if there were a widespread gasoline shortage, how long until you stop checking the local gas station every day to see if they took down the "sorry, no gas" sign? ...
My suggestion is as follows:
NOTE: I have attempted to be as objective as possible. Please do not infer that I have implied anything that isn't explicitly stated. For example, when I say, "Optimism has run out, and frustration has come out on top," I am not implying that the person is or is not justified for going that route. There are plenty of situations where it is reasonably called-for to
give up on optimism, and where frustration could reasonably lead you to try something else.
Maybe you sat in gridlock traffic for 5 hours, and decided you should turn off your car, lock it, and walk away. Or if there were a widespread gasoline shortage, how long until you stop checking the local gas station every day to see if they took down
the "sorry, no gas" sign?
These examples are sufficient, but a few more come to mind, with
concomitant implications:
Consider what events take place when a town becomes a ghost town.
What is left of the place is what people left behind when they
gave up
on optimism. And
they didn't all give up at the same time. The town
had once been a thriving community with shops, homes, mayor's
office, church, school, undertaker, B&B, maybe a saloon. But things
'wound down' over a period of time, perhaps years, or perhaps even
a few days, or even less, depending on the reason that people started
to leave. In the end,
the "Sorry, no Gas" sign is still in the dusty,
cobweb-cornered window, barely visible through the dirty glass, with
the sharp soft noise of a tumbleweed as it rolls down Main Street,
blown by a dry hot wind.
When a vehicle's drive train fails, it usually has some symptoms first.
Like an internal combustion engine that runs low on oil starts making
a ticking, clacking sound, a noise with a ringing aspect, which any
good mechanic would know the likely cause -- the oil level has gone
down to dangerously low. A person with no ear for that might not
even notice it, especially since it begins so quietly and very gradually
increases. If ignored even for a few days, the engine could incur
permanent damage, and beyond that, it could actually freeze up when
one or more of the main and/or connecting rod bearings seize. And
that happens in just a moment of time. You could say that the parts
of the engine "
give up on the optimism of getting more oil."
Also, the various parts didn't all
give up on optimism at the same
time. The valve rocker arms started ticking first, then the
hydraulic lifters started knocking, then the piston bearings made a
clacking sound, and finally the connecting rod bearings began to
thwack against the crankshaft. But it was the main bearing number
5 that actually heated up and grabbed the crank, causing the engine
to seize and stop altogether. The parts of an engine like this cannot
"move away" or "stop going to Mass." But they can cease to function
properly, even if their overall contribution to the system is not one
whose loss makes the engine quit running. But when it comes to
the crankshaft, that's where the serious malfunctions are conclusive.
Another example would be John Steinbeck's
Grapes of Wrath, in at
least two-thirds of its 600 pages.
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