Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Y is for Youth: "On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth" by William Hazlitt

 10-565

There's a lot of selections in TGWttGB about youth, aging, etc., but no Great Idea really. Kind of surprising.

Summary: Youth is wasted on the young.

Bonus: Meddling Kids!



Commentary: This starts with the oft repeated, "No young man believes he shall ever die." I'm not saying I didn't do anything reckless as a kid/teen, but I feel like I was aware of my mortality from a pretty young age. There were one or two times where I honestly thought I would die, and I think most people I've talked to felt similarly. Maybe it's more of a "don't understand what dying really means" kind of thing, but even that feels like a stretch. He continues with the equally cliché "death is part of what makes life worth living." Meh.

1/5 Short, cliché, and disposable. Dozens of other essays have covered the same ground, and covered it better. Cicero is in the same volume even.

I'm thankful for Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated. That's a great show!

1 comment:

  1. True. It took a few years for me to fully comprehend the survival fears my parents tried to impart.
    I hope you're enjoying the A to Z Challenge. Please check out the giveaway on my blog.

    J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZchallenge

    ReplyDelete

"Woodcraft and Camping" by George "Nessmuk" Sears Part 1 (Ch 1)

 I've got a lot of camping coming up next month, so I thought it'd be fun to do a camping book for a bit. I talked about this a litt...