Wish I had a Million dollars..Hotdog! lol One of my all time favorites!

Perfect analogy and one of my all time favorite movies!

You know, as much as I try to find something to like about Antoine - I just can't. He annoys me more and more.
He seems to be complaining about life being so cruel and useless - of course his life is cruel and useless, he chose to completely give up on it! Did he expect that by not living life he would somehow find a greater meaning to life? That's just nonsensical and absurd.



I totally agree, Gemini.

Life is full of it's own rewards, every single day. Your reward for working hard with your kids is get an "I love you, mum" and to see their beautiful faces everyday. Your reward for working hard at your job is to get that big smile from your boss or to be thanked by an appreciative stranger. Your reward for doing charitable things is the knowledge that someone somewhere is now better off than they were yesterday.

All these things are what make life worthwhile. And all of those things can be your "justification for having lived", so long as you choose to appreciate them rather than ignore them.

At this point in time I'm honestly not sure if there's a Messiah to follow or look for. But I think that if there is, he/she/it would be most pleased with us taking advantage of every opportunity we have for good - living the lives that have been given us to the fullest and doing everything we can to make our world a happier place.

Perhaps Antoine begins to realise that when he starts to take care of Mirielle... but I'm not sure... even doing that, he seems to be more concerned about his own feelings than hers. She's just another one of his personal experiments.

So basically, no, I do not agree with Antoine. He's projecting his own useless fellings out onto all of humankind and I think he's wrong.

The first thing that entered my mind is a quote from ???
Don't just stand there and wait for your ship to come in, swim out to meet it!
No, I don't agree. The mystery of life isn't just going to come to you, you must question and find your own answer.
Lady Jill

Very well put, Lady Jill!

Before we get off this topic, I thought you all might like to see a picture of my favorite guide !

RedShoes, Yes, I too wonder about his relationship with Mirielle and if he has changed his position or not by the end of the book.

Parlez, too cute! Can I take him home?

He's not mine to give away, but he's all yours, Depputante...in a metaphysical way!
And may the force be with you!

We are each one such a tiny speck in the scheme of things, if you think about the millions and millions of people in the world right now plus all the ones who have ever lived...sometimes when I think about that I feel so insignificant! which is probably why it isn't good for me to think too much! and this discussion is definitely making me think too much! I used to think I knew what my life was about and the purpose for it all, and now the older I get and the more I experience, the less I think I know about it.

That just does seem to come up in many of our discussions, doesn't it?

And we still haven't solved the riddle!

Easy? ha! (that's a good one!)

I don't agree that we must resign ourselves to waiting for a "hypothetical messiah" to come and enlighten us. I belive that we each have a purpose. What that purpose is will either be known in this lifetime or later on by those who loved us - but I don't think that some mysterious figure will appear and illuminate our purpose for us.

I don't agree with his comment. Whatever I would have written in answer to this has gone completely out of my head, because I have received news that someone has died. Not someone I loved, but I have shed tears, nevertheless, and tears for the people who do love her, and are grieving right now. Isn't that what counts? That our lives add up because we made a difference to someone? I cry also because what was sweet and precious to her has gone and because it is sweet and precious to us all.
Justification for life doesn't come from perpetuating one's genes (although my genes might disagree with me). I don't have children, but I have changed lives - quite often without wanting or intending to - but that little nudge or step up has been there, nonetheless. And people have done that for me - again without intending to. Just as Johnny has. Little acts of intervention and kindness make the difference, IMY. Some people's impact is larger than others. One could argue that their justification for life is thus larger. Personally, I don't feel any need for justification for life. Neither do I feel any need to solve its mystery. Take what you can. Give something back is what I belive, roughly. I would like to think that I don't hurt anyone along the way - I try not to -and that on balance, the positives of any existence outweight the negatives. It also comes down to love in the end. That you have done something with that great big heart you were given, and can account for its use.
The grieving partner of the person said, "Well it's done now. She went well, in her sleep. That's as much as we can all hope for" and then he laughed wryly and added that he was getting philosphical in his old age. He said he cries far more nowadays, as he gets older. That he cries over a news story when someone has been shot, over the life that has been lost. That's the justification for life. That we cry when it ends.
Sorry for my ramble. It's just how things strike me this morning.