It's All A Matter of Perspective.

Aux Imagistes

by William Carlos Williams

I think I have never been so exalted
As I am now by you,
O frost bitten blossoms,
That are unfolding your wings
From out the envious black branches.

Bloom quickly and make much of the sunshine
The twigs conspire against you
Hear them!
They hold you from behind

You shall not take wing
Except wing by wing, brokenly,
And yet—
Even they
Shall not endure for ever.

This poem, at first look and as we analyzed it, seems to be something negative. Williams is trying to tell his readers through his poem that despite the difficulty and uncertainties of life, there is no certain 'end' or purpose anyway at all. This kind of view is not very rare, and I would admit that I myself feel this way sometimes – in fact, I think everybody goes through the kind of phase of looking life this way, as if nothing really matters, nothing really makes sense, and life is just a waste of time.



I have been a pessimistic one for such a long time. Even at a young age, I started questioning what really is the meaning of everything in life. Life for everyone, as it used to seem to me, was quite repetitive, and I saw nothing special for it was only a routine. It brings to mind a movie which I personally find very good for the questions it poses for its viewers – The Truman Show. For those who have not seen the movie yet, it is about a man, Truman, who, ever since his birth, has unknowingly become a star of a reality show. Everything in his life was a set-up, from the weather up to what he calls his family. For such a long time, he did not question his existence or why he does this and that every single day. I brought this up in here for sometimes, we all are like Truman; we are all blinded by the routine of life, the hustles and bustles of everything without really stopping and thinking, what is the use anyway, in the end? One of the lines in the movie that really caught my attention was that by Christof, the creator of the show in the movie, when he said: “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.” And he's not really wrong. Many really do fall into the trap of thinking that.



Yet, as I grew, my perspective of the world grew as well. I have realized that I have fallen into the world's mind bandwagon. And thankfully, I have woken from this deep sleep in the arms of pessimism just like how Truman started to question the weirdness of why such routine exists in his life, of wanting to live something quite different than what we are presented with. Just like Truman, we have to open the door of our enclosed world in order to see life beyond this routine which makes it seem unfair, meaningless. It is through that can we finally start to see life with a purpose. It might be a risk.. but I think it is a risk I am willing to take, rather than enclose myself in the boringness and ordinariness of this life with a routine.

It would be wrong for me to tell for sure what one's purpose is. What I can say is this: it's all a matter of perspective. Even looking at this poem is a matter of perspective! People would usually say that Williams is trying to tell that life is unfair and pointless, but for me, I would like to look at it differently. Instead of seeing at as a 'downer', it could be viewed in such a way that would motivate the people. Knowing that we 'shall not endure for ever' would make us 'make much of the sunshine' or make the most of life. It's quite the same with looking at the purpose of life. Everyone seems to be looking for a GREAT 'purpose' like that of Christ's – dying for the sake of humanity or something like that which is quite ideal and impossible to attain– while we do not really count the small differences that we make. We take for granted all these things that we do everyday. In my own perspective, I think that every 'act of random kindness' (from the movie Evan Almighty) we do, no matter how small or unnoticeable, makes up our purpose in life. For me, we do not need to do one massive favor for the world; in fact, I think it's the small things that matters, just as there is no 1 peso if it isn't for a hundred cents. Let's not be blinded by the kind of standards the world has for what a life with a purpose is. I would say that it is really up to us to say if we have lived a life with a meaning. I think it is only ourselves who can answer that question... So we should just make sure that we live our lives not like the way Truman used to, but the way he did when he walked out the door of the 'normalized' world set for him; we should live and end our every day in this world making sure that we know in the deepest of our hearts that we have an added a cent into our piggy bank of life's purpose.