thoughts from a bklyn gal

Tag: writing

  • lessons of love

    lessons of love

    What is love at its core? 

    This is a question people have been asking for centuries–and maybe the answer lies in what’s already been said. My class just started reading The Aeneid. Obviously, a very important book. My professor went on to explain the book goes through wars, travel, the usual spiel. But he also talked about Aeneas and Dido, he mentioned their love and how readers latched on to their story, basically turning them into a trope–just search up the opera version.

    While reading about how Aeneas had to leave Dido, I was left confused. Dido fell in love with Aeneas, but all she was describing was something dark and horrifying, not at all the swooping excitement I think of as describing “love”. From the moment the narrative identifies her feeling as “love”,  she becomes unhappy, and her feelings become spoiled with something bordering malicious. Which makes me think, was Dido in love or in pain? Or are they the same thing? 

    “Cursed love, you make us stoop to anything.” Dido says. Is that all what love is to a person? Something that blinds us from reality, makes us do things out of our character. When we are in love, do we lose control of ourselves? Dido’s love not only made her wish death upon her lover, but also drove her to suicide. To her, love is something that breaks the soul instead of nourishing it. Is love essentially “the first day of death, the first cause of ruin”? 

    In a way, Dido is right. Being in love is giving wholly to a person, without a guarantee of getting it back. That is what imprisoned her: love became a force that only takes but never gives. And that can drive anyone crazy. 

    “Aeneas…haunted her thoughts. His face and words lodged in her heart. Love let her find no rest in sleep” Dido continues.

    Love is an ominous thing. It exposes a different part of ourselves, parts we may not want to see. But does this archeological excavation into ourselves reveal who we truly are, or just who we become when we are in love with another person? In The Aeneid, we see that love turns us rotten and broken, something needing to be freed. Love cages Dido and essentially leads to her demise. She couldn’t live with a broken heart, so she couldn’t live at all. 

    In a way, love is pain. You are putting your emotions at risk for another person. Of course, there are great parts to being in love. But, it seems, you are always teetering on the edge of a cliff. Never knowing when you might fall, or when the other person may let go.  

  • easy things are ruining our lives

    easy things are ruining our lives

    I have heard this sentence come from my mother’s mouth more than I can count. But I think now she is right. The easy things in our lives are actually diminishing our quality of life, both physically and intellectually. 

    First, ChatGPT. It is the main source of all information among teens. While on vacation, I saw how many young adults were hooked on GPT’s overflowing knowledge, simplifying Google’s user experience even more, which shook the world with its easy usage in the first place. I see my cousin use ChatGPT as the Holy Grail to search up anything she wants as it combines multiple searches on the internet into three, easy, bolded sentences. I see her talk to it as a friend to get advice on drama and boys and school. It is a hub of everything you need, and it slowly destroys you. 

    This software, I think, will easily replace the innate need to search for anything ourselves in the first place. I mean, why would you? The answer is only one click away.Instead of reading, or thinking, we type. And this transition has already begun. In addition to breaking down creativity, it is also destroying our environment, emitting 8.4 tons of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere per year. So it is not only feeding into our laziness, but the decline of our planet.

    Next, social media. As an avid user I can say that I am fully in Meta’s grasp, sorry!  Though Instagram and TikTok and whatnot give us a way to stay connected, it is really just another bandaid to ease our boredom. A recent conversation I had with my boyfriend helped me understand this. He told me social media is used to escape whatever we are feeling in the moment, to numb our thoughts. I don’t think I could agree more. When I am in groups, I see how quickly teens switch to their phones of the conversation lulls. My cousin told me her favorite pastime is scrolling through TikTok’s endless feeds. Not a single subway train I have been on has more than one person not on their phone–including myself. 

    It may not seem too alarming, but slowly, this dependence on social media to feed us content will replace our needs to think, be present, or even just be bored. Does this mean I will stop using Instagram completely? Uhm.. probably not. But I definitely am trying to rely on it less. 

    I think the conclusion to this is that technology is man’s greatest creation and ultimate downfall (I am currently writing this on my computer…). And we have to eventually find the perfect balance and learning when to do the basic labors of daily life and when to turn to tech to help us out. Sometimes, being uncomfortable or being challenged can benefit you.