"The Impossible Will Take a Little While" and true to form my post about it has also.... taken a little while. The book is a compilation of short stories from a collection of authors telling of personal struggles. The stories range vastly in subject matter some totally bizarre and others poignant but every one challenging the reader to reassess the definition of hope in situations without chance of positive outcome. What does that mean? What would you hope for if there was no chance of positive outcome? Does hope stop being hope and become something else? For instance, Sherman Alexie’s essay “Do Not Go Gentle” and Danusha Veronica Goska’s Political Paralysis” both tell stories of such instances. Alexie’s essay follows his experience during the days after the birth of his newborn as he feared his child might not survive. Despite the circumstances, Alexie uses his wild sense of humor to erect a moment of elation in the hospital. Creating a moment of shared joy with the parents he had until that point shared suffering with.
What can be derived from this story is an example of defiant acts of resistance and a will to fan the flickers of joy in moments that are void of reason to feel it. What else can be found is a sense of compassion and comradery that, I believe hides deep in the foundation of society but is rooted in us all ready to flourish out of us when it is needed most. An excerpt from Pablo Neruda’s essay in the book describes such a thing, “But to feel the affection that comes from those whom we do not know, from those unknown to us, who are watching over our sleep and solitude, over our dangers and our weaknesses--that is something still greater and more beautiful because it widens out the boundaries of our being and unites all living things.” “humanity is somehow together” (Loeb 168).
I am not alone when I express that I often feel the state of the world is a situation that may not have a positive outcome. That is indeed a possibility that we, ENST majors, lament over at great length. However, the type of togetherness Neruda describes above is the togetherness I think Alexie felt with the other parents and what I have felt with my ENST cohort. This togetherness is a bond, a comradery, that despite my own personal doubts fuels an ember of hope inside of me. Something about knowing we stand together makes the impossible seem possible (even if it may take a little while).
yes, these are really important gleanings... erect a moment of elation in the hospital-- HAHA
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