08.04.08
Brackish
Brackish – Nicholas Sparks uses this word a lot. I think it appears at least once in each of his first several novels. And, I love that it does! When I first read it in The Notebook, I fell in love with it right away. It is used to describe water that is slightly salty, which can be a mixture of salt water and fresh water. (It can also be used to describe things as unpleasant or distasteful, but I have never come across it used this way, and I hope I don’t any time soon because it may just ruin the word for me!)
To me, something brackish has been softened or muted, but is not entirely changed or completely diluted…I’d like to use the word in this sense in writing applications other than describing water. Perhaps the best way will be to compare something to brackish water, or is that the easy way out? I wonder if the usage of the word to describe something unpleasant is more common than I realize and if using it how I would like will even work at all. Maybe brackish might be effective in describing someone’s attitude or disposition. I think I will try it and see if it works.
~Melissa 
Recent reading – July
I thought I would share some of the books that I have read recently. I was very busy until the end of July with graduate classes, but as soon as they were finished, I found time to read for fun again. Please let me know if you have read any of these books, what you thought of them, or if you plan to read them in the future. I do recommend all of them. ~Melissa
A Dog About Town, J. F. Englert
Light on Snow, Anita Shreve
The Ladies’ No. 1 Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
Cards on the Table, Agatha Christie
“If you want others to be happy…”
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
- Dalai Lama, 1935-present
It is a seemingly simple statement with straightforward advice, but it is also one that many of us have such a hard time implementing. In the quest for our own happiness, I think that we too easily forget the happiness of others. This becomes a problem because if we live in a world where everyone is only concerned about themselves, their own personal gains at the expense of others, and separate or competing interests from those around them, then it doesn’t seem likely that anyone could ever be happy.
However, when we try to understand the people around us more, and feel empathy towards them or show tolerance even when we do not understand fully why they do the things that they do, then suddenly our own lives improve because our lives are no longer consumed with getting angry at the driver who cut us off on the highway, resenting the boss whom we believe treated us unfairly, or complaining about the woman holding up the line at the grocery store. If we understand that other people may have a bad day from time to time and that our reaction to them has the power to change not only our experiences, but their experience, and the experiences of all the other people who they come into contact with for the rest of that day, then our own happiness is inevitable. We can enjoy our trips in the car, be proud of our careers, and be happy about our purchases in a store. It is a small difference for each of us to make, but it has a very large return.
If we each do these things consistently and genuinely, then it doesn’t seem likely that anyone could ever be unhappy. ~ Melissa
