Think of a large room. In this room there are people of every age, ethnicity, and country that you can think of. Now think of each individual story behind those lives. Everyone, despite their age, has a unique background, upbringing, and mindset. As college is hastily approaching, I see more and more people wanting to stay in the comfort of living near what is known. Not that there is anything wrong with living close to home, but personally I would rather go to a place completely unique to that of my own inner world. A place where the ideologies shared are rather unlike to that of what I’m accustomed to. But despite one’s drive or lack thereof to physically explore the world, cultures and personal experiences can and will always be held
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Before reading A Visit from the Goon Squad, my basic goal in life was to work hard, live wealthy and eventually die happy. Although wealth is something to prosper towards, it should never be the main goal in life. Given that wealth was a main goal beforehand, the second chapter of the book took me on an introspective journey through the life of Bennie Salazar. Bennie, a once (very shortly) successful music producer is shown battling early stages of depression given his quickly plummeting life situation. Business is failing as he is not adjusting his sound to that of the contemporary world, he feels disconnected from his son, and his obsession over having an increased sexual drive despite being recently divorced. Needless to say, his once “successful” peak was way past him in the rearview mirror and he was doing anything to his ability to go back to a time of comfort. Instead of adjusting to the music of more recent times, he fell under his thirst for success and riches. Given my young age, I could not completely relate to the sentiment depicted by Bennie. Despite that, he provided a lesson that I would have most likely been exposed to by experiencing it later on in life. He served as a great example of what can happen when one’s main incentive to live is money, which summarized entails a life with little actual value. He thought he wanted to be a producer when he was at the height of his career, but ultimately regretted even joining the profession after seeing the hardships that come outside of the peak. Ultimately, Bennie (although fictional) showed me the mental devastation that can come with the absence of
Before reading A Visit from the Goon Squad, my basic goal in life was to work hard, live wealthy and eventually die happy. Although wealth is something to prosper towards, it should never be the main goal in life. Given that wealth was a main goal beforehand, the second chapter of the book took me on an introspective journey through the life of Bennie Salazar. Bennie, a once (very shortly) successful music producer is shown battling early stages of depression given his quickly plummeting life situation. Business is failing as he is not adjusting his sound to that of the contemporary world, he feels disconnected from his son, and his obsession over having an increased sexual drive despite being recently divorced. Needless to say, his once “successful” peak was way past him in the rearview mirror and he was doing anything to his ability to go back to a time of comfort. Instead of adjusting to the music of more recent times, he fell under his thirst for success and riches. Given my young age, I could not completely relate to the sentiment depicted by Bennie. Despite that, he provided a lesson that I would have most likely been exposed to by experiencing it later on in life. He served as a great example of what can happen when one’s main incentive to live is money, which summarized entails a life with little actual value. He thought he wanted to be a producer when he was at the height of his career, but ultimately regretted even joining the profession after seeing the hardships that come outside of the peak. Ultimately, Bennie (although fictional) showed me the mental devastation that can come with the absence of