“I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.”
~ Daniel Keyes
It seems like one of the themes that emerged, again and again, in 2021 was the warning to be careful what we wish for, because what will we do if we get what we think we want, and even threw tantrums until we were granted it?
The sad, short story of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys fits neatly into this theme – and then some. It also reminds us that getting and then losing what we want hurts us more than never having it at all.
Hope, in that regard, traitorous hope, is still easier to live with than regret. A promise unfulfilled hurts less than a gift taken away.
Yes. There are uncomfortable lessons (and dangerous powers for those who understand how to manipulate them) here for life, politics, and business.