kundera

i love this writer.

from my first experience with him - the unbearable lightness of being - to my current literary foray - immortality - i've been completely enamored with his gift for creating thoroughly engaging, complex, multi-dimensional characters while expressing truths inherent in the human condition. i'm not suggesting that he's unique in that aspect, i'm just saying that i'm enamored with the way he does it...

a quote from immortality contrasting paths to highways:

"before paths disappeared from the landscape, they had disappeared from the human soul: man stopped wanting to walk, to walk on his own feet and to enjoy it. what's more, he no longer saw his own life as a path, but as a highway: a line that led from one point to another, from the rank of captain to the rank of general, from the role of wife to the role of widow. time became a mere obstacle to life, an obstacle that had to be overcome by ever greater speed."

and more than most, american culture is a culture of highways.

he goes on to write:

"a path is a tribute to space. every stretch of path has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. a highway is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time."

we choose to live our lives as paths or highways. living in the present, seeking beauty in the everyday occurrence, or living in the past and the future, one's eyes forever on the next 'destination.'

the thing about highways is, accidents happen all the time.