Breaking or Remaking? -- Seize the Day

How much can a man take? What does it take to break a full grown man into nothing? After Tommy has been conned out of his last life savings by Dr. Tamkin and has fought with his father one last time, he finally burst into tears at a stranger’s funeral. He cries for everything that has happened to him and maybe a little for what the future has in store for him. Yet those tears do not seem desperate or hopeless, “It poured into him where he had hidden himself in the center of a crowd by the great and happy oblivion of tears. He heard it sank deeper than sorrow, through torn sobs and cries towards the consummation of his heart’s ultimate need.” (pg 114) Crying brought Wilhelm a pause in his life, at that moment the only thing that mattered was letting everything out until there was nothing left. After he had shown all his pains and sorrows, after reaching the very bottom of his emotional state, those “oblivion of tears” could not take anything else from him, they sank “deeper than sorrow”. Only thing left would be to climb, to climb back into life. The cleansing cry left Wilhelm with hope only, and hope without frustration or fear might permit him to finally find happiness. In the end we can see that Tommy’s breaking point was in fact a remaking of himself, a cold shower that might bring him back to life.
I think that Seize the Day’s most valuable lesson came in that instant where Tommy began to cry and think of only that. At that very instant, his whole self thought about crying, about letting everything out. He seized that moment and took everything he could from it. That is a very valuable life lesson. We need to utilize every second we have on this earth to learn and do as much as we can. Grasp every single moment we possibly can, not dwell on the past like Dr. Adler with his petty resentment or fear the future like Wilhelm throughout the novel. “The past is no good to us. The future is full of anxiety. Only the present is real- the here and now. Seize the day.” (pg. 62)
After reading this novel, I’m finding that idea, the mentality to grasp the present, very convincing. It reminded me of the movie, The Peaceful Warrior in which the main character is taught precisely that. After watching that movie I tried practicing this. In a class, in a sport, in a simple conversation, I gave myself 100% to the moment, did not care about the future or analyze the past. Just for that moment, I felt great freedom. Before I thought I was free, but after having that feeling I realized I was tied down by the past and the future. That feeling of focusing 100% on a moment felt like an hour of sunshine while in prison. It was refreshing and even inspiring, but after the moment passed, I went back to prison. I went back to the past, I tried to look into the future and I was incarcerated again. That is the major feeling I got from this book and I hope to revive that hour of sunshine throughout my life.