Sean Kim
Ms. Stewart
English 30-1 Period 4
March 14, 2018
Embrace or Reject Uncertain Future
When we were young, we were told what to do. Individuals did not have a choice of what they want to do in the future but as individuals grow, they have the choice to decide what they want to do in the future. Individuals imagine things differently from others. How individuals imagine things affect individual’s willingness to embrace or refuse an uncertain future. The future and imagination can be a dream or a nightmare, individual’s imagination sets the success factor. Not all imagination affects an individual’s willingness to embrace the future because not all imaginations are real and can happen but sometimes, it can be a problem solving. In the story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, it talks about how individuals are faced with struggle of making decision to pursue idealistic life or accept the fact that it cannot happen and not all imagination turns out positive.
The idea that an individual is constantly faced with the struggle of making the decision to pursue an idealistic life or accept the terms of reality whether or not it makes that individuals feel happy and satisfied. This results in the individual to fall in a state of confusion and lose the sight of their main ambitions and goals in order to achieve success. In the story “On the Rainy River” it talks about “A million things all at once- I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, to everything.it could not happen. I was above it. I had the world dicked- Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude and the president of the student body and a full-ride scholarship for grad studies at Harvard.” Pg. 173-174. Tim’s idealistic future is to attend Harvard University and continue his academic studies. However, once he receives his draft notice to go to Vietnam War, he worries that the future he has and the hard work he did will be put in waste. Tim deciding to go to Canada and be draft dodger was mainly due to his ambition of being able to continue to pursue his idea of realistic lifestyle and future he has. But throughout his plan to escape, he begins to take account all the factors of reality. He thinks about what will happen if they found out that he is a draft dodger and go to Canada. He continuously worries that others will view him as a weak and incapable of fighting war for his home country. This shows how Tim’s own judgement can be severely impact his future and reality.
Individuals reject the decision they make for the future or present because of the idea of judgement of others, the fear individuals have and then the future or the present becomes uncertain. A lot of times instead of thinking about themselves and the future, individuals tend to think ab...
