Life Rushing By: Analysis (Final)

This sonnet is a reflection of how I see life as I grow into an adult. I recall how the hours went by, the days went by, the months went by, and the years went by. When I look back, I don’t remember much of what happened when I was really young, and the pictures in the family photo album are what really tell the story of my life so far. Life has seemed like a blur because it is rushing by too fast, and I don’t feel like I am enjoying it to the fullest extent. Sometimes I feel lost, and I wish that I could just stop time from moving forward so I could take a breath.
I start off this sonnet, entitled Life Rushing By, by trying to get the reader to visualize my life journey and make them feel like they were taking the same path, right along side me. I relate my life journey to walking down a street on the sidewalk during rush hour traffic. This best symbolizes the image of being overwhelmed by life’s fast moving pace. As I begin, I open with the image of “roaring car engines” that are speeding by as I casually walk home. These cars symbolize the days that go by during my life. This metaphor can also be thought of as the pages on a calendar being torn off as the days turn into months. I go on to talk about feeling the rush of wind that the cars create as they go by. As I am walking down the sidewalk, or the journey of life, I get caught up in the wind of the passing cars, or days of my life. These days seem to keep coming at high speed and are unrelenting, just like the wind generated from rushing cars. As I get caught up in the wind of the passing cars, I am getting swept up in the hustle and bustle of life. Life seems to be showing me too many things at once, and therefore I am not able to soak it all up. In the end, however, I ignore these cars, and I stand still, untouched by the speeding cars. I refuse to let these days overwhelm my life.
The next stanza helps the reader visualize and hear what life rushing by is like for me. Like the pictures in the family photo album, visualizing these events of my life, helps to let it soak in and create my identity. I live in a condo right next to a busy street, so I know what the rush hour road sounds like. First of all, the roaring engines create the beat and pulse of life. As the cars are roaring by, they seem to be in a “race to get nowhere”. The destination is not as important as how you live your life getting there. As soon as that red light flips on, the screeching tires emerge from the beat of the roaring engines and create a “crashing of the cymbals”. These cars are in such a rush and are traveling so fast, that they have a hard time stopping when a yellow light warns them to. I relate this to wanting to slow down time smoothly, but in life, it never goes as smoothly as you had planned. As people are always in a rush, they in turn get frustrated when a machine with three colored lights tells them to slow down. People’s natural instinct is to slap their hand on the horn and honk it as long as they can when they are in a hurry. I guess this is why it is so naturally located in the center of the steering wheel where people can get to it easily, the second they get frustrated. These honking horns seem to bring a sense of melody to the street where there was previously only a beat and an accented crash. Put together as one, these many sounds tell the tale of how my life whizzes by.
As I summarize my ideas on how life rushes by too fast, I stop to ask myself “Why do people seem to be in a rush?” This question puzzles me, but we all know that it is true in our daily life. For example, when I get into the elevator at my condo, I know that I only have to press the button once, but for some reason I feel the urge to press the button multiple times until the elevator door closes. Have you ever wondered why they now equip elevators with those arrow buttons, which mean to either hold the door open or close it immediately? It really only saves you a couple of seconds depending on whether you just relax and let the door close, or whether you jam your finger into the “Close Now” button. This goes to prove that people always seem to be in a rush and never want to stand still for even a few seconds more then they absolutely have to. When I look back at the day, I notice that in our society, we are almost set up like robots to do the same daily activities at the same time. When the device that we have come to know as the “clock” reads 6:00, this it telling me that I need to get out of bed. When the clock reads 7:30, it is telling me that I should be in English class based on what “letter” day it is. It seems to me like our life is preprogrammed and we can’t make it our own, at our own pace.
Therefore, I conclude by giving some advice to the reader. I feel that everyone needs to have their own time to relax when the cars finally seem to stop rushing by. We all need that time to stop for a moment and let the day sink in. Of course, the peace will soon be broken when that “clock” starts to honk at you, as a new day begins.

Life Rushing By

I watch the traffic rushing by my side
As I walk, I feel the wind surround me
Trying to sweep me off of my two feet
I stand planted, as steady as can be
Roaring car engines, racing to nowhere
Screeching tires like a cymbal crashing
Honking horns bring melody to the streets
Diverse sounds, blended together as one
Why do people seem to be in a rush?
Fearing realization of standing still
Racing against the never-ending clock
Conforming to society’s timeline
Now, take the time for a much needed breath
Stop for a moment, let the day sink in

my heritage paper

Back in the dark, shady days of the depression years, my grandmother on my mother’s side and her family were going through tough times. My great grandmother, whose name was Elizabeth Palumbo, was raising her children in Rochester, New York after she emigrated here from Italy. They were struggling financially and only had money for food but nothing else. My grandmother’s brothers and sisters thought about complaining of the lack of money and not being able to afford new clothes, but they decided to be thankful for what they had. During this time, the weather was also very harsh. It was freezing cold, and the winter seemed to go on forever. In my grandma’s house, her mom kept the furnace turned up all the way, which caused it to tragically break down. My grandma’s family was all huddled up in a small apartment trying to keep warm. Now what were they going to do?
Elizabeth came up with the only plan that she could think of. She decided to find the company that manufactured and sold the type of furnace that she previously had in her house before it broke. The old furnace had lasted her whole life up until that point, so she knew that a new one would be very reliable. Once she narrowed down her search of companies, she came across the one that she was looking for and asked for the manager. When the manager came out of his office, she asked him, “I need a new furnace right now but I have no money. Starting today, I will come here two times every week for as long as it takes and clean all of the offices. I will not stop until the furnace is paid for, even if it takes all of my life.” The manager was obviously shocked by what this stranger had said to him, but he was also impressed by my great grandmother’s determination. He immediately decided to take her promise, and gave her the furnace believing that she would keep to her word about repaying the cost of the furnace. Sure enough, Elizabeth came to that office building two times a week for a full two years, and then could finally pay the manager back with her extra earnings.
After everything settled when the furnace was paid off, Elizabeth focused on teaching her children the value of education. Learning to read was the key to a good education in the early 1930’s, and learning this lifelong skill continues to be a part of my grandma’s life, as she still loves to read everyday before she goes to bed. Elizabeth did not want my grandmother to end up like most Italians that usually quit school early and then work in the factories to earn quick money. Since learning to read led to a better life, Elizabeth knew she needed to teach this lesson to my grandma. However, Elizabeth could not read to my grandmother every night because she had no education herself and was unable to read. My great grandmother’s solution was to bring my grandma to the city library and approach the librarian sitting behind the desk and ask, “I don’t know anything about books but you do. I want you to pick out the best books for my children (my grandma) to read.” Just like the manager at the furnace company, the librarian was impressed and compiled the best reading material for a child, and continued to do this for my great grandmother whenever she visited the library.
However, Elizabeth was not the only one who was laying down the foundation of values for generations to come. My great grandfather on my grandpa’s side, whose name is William Shimer, also played a role in teaching the value of education and especially hard work and determination. William used to always share this story of his upbringing in the backwoods of West Virginia. All around him, none of his neighbors or even relatives went to school beyond the early grades, because they just worked on a farm by hoeing corn and milking cows. However, William was different from everyone else and they said that he loved to study and read books and he eventually graduated from high school. He immediately became a teacher in a one-room school house. After enough of this, William decided that he wanted to go to college, and therefore applied to Harvard University. To make a long story short, he was not accepted. However, this was only the first attempt, and with a lot more studying, he got accepted in the next year! He then took a train to Boston with only a suitcase, and did not know any manners like how to dress or speak well, but what he did know was how to work hard, observe others, and adapt. With these instincts, he not surprisingly began to fit in but he struggled. In the end, my great grandfather received his PhD degree from Harvard and then went on to become a college president. Now that is a huge leap from the life on the farm, but William showed that all it took were hard work and determination to reach your goals.
When I heard these stories many years ago, I quickly learned why my mother was raising me to understand the value of hard work, determination, and the importance of loving your family. These strong values were passed down to my grandparents by example. What I mean by this is that they “practiced what they preached”. I learned the importance of setting a good example for my children by working hard, getting a good education, and respecting and accepting others no matter how different they are from you. These values are the heartbeat that flows from generation to generation.