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The Things They Carried The Weight We Carry Essay

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The Weight We Carry

The weight we carry and its significance we put on the past, present, and future is something that affects our mood and truly influences our lives. People move through life and get caught up in their minds while missing important things going on around them all while missing out on the joys of the world surrounding them. The short story The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien, focuses on how First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross lets his daydreams of the past, present, and future impact his actions and observations in the world. It teaches a great lesson on living in the moment and focusing on what really matters and what is truly weighing you down.

The Past is a world where most of our dreams live and we constantly try to influence or change them for our betterment, unfortunately there is no way to alter what has happened. The weight of an item is easy to determine but many times we will focus on what seems to be the main idea of a story while the true weight is the thought, worries, and dreams that we let bog us down. In …show more content…
But, if you are worried about an upcoming speech or test that is causing undo stress then thinking about the future could be detrimental to your thoughts and surroundings. At some point in all of our lives we must let go of the past, live in the present, and prepare for the future. Lt. Cross decides his time in the past is up after Lavender is killed; at that point he burns the letters and photographs from Martha and chooses to perform his duties firmly and without negligence. He knows that he must show strength and reduce the relaxed state that his men have been prone to fall into, while obviously some will be unhappy, he is preparing them for the future and ultimately surviving the hell that they have been cast

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