As a writer, I prefer to think of the world not so much as my oyster, but as a blank page on which I can tell the story of my life, how I want to live it and how I want to shape it. It doesn’t always work out that way, I suppose, but with “the world is my blank page” repeating in my head, I can keep a happy, positive outlook on life.
In thinking about this recently, I was suddenly struck by two thoughts:
- What do people in other fields or industries consider their “oyster”? Do people in IT say “the world is my brand new server”? Do surgeons say “the world is a patient prepared and ready for cutting”?
- What is the etymology of the phrase “the world is my oyster”? I appreciate that some oysters contain pearls and that you have to work hard to find one. But the idea of ripping apart living creatures simply to achieve financial success seems positively Machiavellian to me. Anyone else have thoughts on this?
1) No IT people say:
SELECT * FROM World WHERE Oyster IS NOT NULL
2) It is a line from Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”
“Why then the world’s mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open.”
Some random thoughts –
I once saw an interview with author John Berendt where he said many people in Savannah saw their lives as a work of art and lived their lives accordingly. That struck me and stuck with me through the years.
Your oyster question is very interesting. We do seem to breed a small percentage of people who pursue financial success without regard to ethics. And we have many others who don’t seem concerned, it is a grey area. I can’t help but picture the album cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind. Is there a better visual snapshot of (at least a portion of) America’s culture than that?
I used to keep a cartoon on my bulletin board that had a man on his deathbed with his wife standing over him. The man is saying, “I should have bought more crap.” With Covey’s death recently, I also am reminded of one of his seven habits “begin with the end in mind,” which is all about what do we want to be able to recall on our deathbeds.
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
I think we’d all insert different words at different times. I keep thinking the world is kind of your own Etch-a-Sketch. It can be difficult to configure what you desire at times, but if you mess up, you can always shake it off and start over.
@ Coreen,
Are you making a political statement, a la, Mitt Romney’s campaign advisor?
I’m personally thinking we use oyster because oysters are so hard to open and when we finally do, we’re on top of the world.
Definitely not political, Liam. There’s been enough hot air this summer, so I haven’t really been paying attention to the Romney campaign.
Who’s Romney?
@ Coreen,
I was just being silly. I didn’t actually think you had turned into a political pundit.
As 2012 is apparently an election year, I’ve made a deliberate attempt to avoid all the political news, reporting and shenanigans. It’s been positively refreshing.
@ Jordan,
See my reply to Coreen. I’m not entirely sure who Romney is either.