The Journey; a Comparison of Quotes

Gabe Campbell
H. Salsich
English
13th September , 2008

The Journey;
A Comparison of Quotes
Nowadays, everybody wants immediate answers to their questions. They want them promptly and punctually without any delay. What they don’t realize is that without the rush and with proper patience, they could unravel the true meanings to their questions. Overall, the quote “the journey is the reward” from the Chinese Proverbs and the poem “Letters to a Young” by Rainer Maria Rilke can be related by those principles.
Upon reflection, there were three prominent connections between the two quotes that stood out. Both emphasize that when you first ask significant questions, you cannot expect to get the answer instantly, but you have to go through the journey of examining your question, and once you do the answer will be the reward. For instance, when asking “what is the purpose of homework” you would have to contemplate the purposes and how they have helped you thus far. The conclusion you would come to would be your reward for the painstaking process you went through. A second way the quotes relate is when you’re young, you are very impatient so when something comes along that you don’t understand you tend to, much like garbage or an old, unnecessary object, throw it to the side. When things confuse and anger us, we really have to take a little time to understand. With the proper amount of patience, we could be rewarded with the answer that we sought after. The third and final reason these quotes relate is that you really need to learn to appreciate your questions and essentially “create” your own journey. When Rilke writes, “I would like to beg you [ … ] to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer” it’s as if he is saying that you have to value your questions. If you have patience to piece together what baffles you, you will walk right into your answer. Overall, when put into perspective, the two quotes are harmonious together.
While looking back on previous years, I realized that this quote could relate to my previous year in 8th grade. The first way the two quotes relate to last year is because I was very impatient with my homework. Some nights I would rattle off quick answers because I got agitated while doing my homework. If I had treated the homework like a journey and took the time to read over the questions and try to work them out and fully comprehend them instead of rushing, I would have more then likely been rewarded with better grades. The second way the quotes connect to last year is my assessment presentation. Once again, this was an occasion where I was very impatient. I started preparing for it a few days before and when I couldn’t find the right words to say I ended up frantic and impatient, worried about the assignment but not enough to take more time, so I simply threw together a few sentences from my essay mixed with a few sentences of my own and this written concoction was so unhelpful I ended up winging the majority of the presentation. If I had treated this presentation like a long and important journey I could have taken the time to ask the questions “what do I need to state and what should I leave out” or “what could I do to improve this” and I would have been rewarded with a much better presentation and a better grade. Lastly, the two quotes relate to my life through my rejection from the Milton Academy. The main reason I didn’t get accepted was because I didn’t apply myself and I didn’t ask questions. For example, if I knew there was a quiz coming up in science, I should have asked myself what I could do to prepare for this quiz instead of just cramming for it the night before. If I had taken the journey of contemplating questions not just in science, but in all my subjects, my grade surely would have been better. Overall, the quotes by the Chinese Proverbs and Rainer Maria Rilke can relate to my life.
In this new, up-tempo world everybody wants to know everything instantly. Nobody wants to take the time to grasp their questions instead of trying to make their own answers, but what people don’t realize is that a simple journey to piece together what their minds are thinking could result in more correct, in-depth answers. Yes, it may take more time, but when put into perspective it truly is worth it to spend a little extra to get the correct answer. Overall, the quote “the journey is the reward” from the Chinese Proverbs and the poem “Letters to a Young” by Rainer Maria Rilke

Key: Bold = FAST word, Bold w/ Italics = Loose Sentence