The Last Day of Humanity

Growing up we always hear people around us or in movies talk about a “mid-life crises,” and we’ve never really understood what they talk about because we hadn’t experienced it ourselves. In Gail Sheehy’s essay “Predictable Crises of Adulthood,” she writes about each a crisis that can occur in each stage of a human’s life. She break’s our lives into six stages. “Pulling Up Roots”, “Trying Twenties”, “Catch-30,” “Rooting and Extending”, “The Deadline Decade”, and “Renewal or Resignation”. I can’t relate to all but one of these topics because I have not lived them. The only stage I can relate to is Pulling Up Roots, because I just turned 18 and still learning about life. From my experience, Sheehy’s crises claim in the Pulling Up Roots stage is accurate for me.

"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God. "Certainly," said man. "Then I leave you to think of one for all this," said God, and he went away" (265).

Today’s culture includes a melting pot of struggling people. Regardless of their background, it can be assumed that they constantly grapple with the meaning of life. With postmodern ideas stressing individualism and nonconformity, it is no wonder why so many people feel lost. The mystery is not how we came to this predicament, but how Phillip K. dick and Ridely Scott predicted these outcome decades in advance.

Not everyone is living the American dream. It consists of owning a car, house, having a stable income for a family, and the ability to have leisure time. Through a series of economic downturns, the world has experienced financial instability that has greatly affected the population; notably the Great Depression during the late 1920s. Hit after hit, money becomes an issue and plays a key role in developing a person’s character through financial hardships. Horace’s quote, “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant,” is very much true and can be demonstrated in society and by well-known personalities.

Taking pleasure in every minute of life is crucial. Despite their age, citizens can have young spontaneous spirits if they choose to do so. Life is so precious and so valuable. Many people are so worried and concerned with their present. They forget to spend life like a child who is “two years old,” which is important. Living life like a toddler does not mean a person should be immature. It only means that they should flow through the waves of where fate is meant to take them. A two year old child wants to be nurtured and loved. Human beings want to be cared for and felt affection towards. Individuals who live youthfully and make the most of their journeys tend to be the most content. They flee from their qualms. Existence in the world does have pain and sorrow, but it is important to use the organ that all of mankind was given to love, live, laugh, enjoy, and most of all relax. Doyle mentions that “Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime.” These two billion heartbeats fragile, and each beat should be cherished. Most importantly, each beat should be spent doing something important in life, but with

There is but one thing that no one can ever have enough of. Admittedly, there are various substitutions that can suffice as satisfactory for one’s happiness. Yet, there is an exception that creeps and remains ubiquitously unseen and incessantly yearned for. As Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, puts it, there are “ships at a distance [that] have every man’s wish on board.” Indeed, these desires ride a boat which sails on, perhaps, the ocean of time. There are those who are fortunate and whose ships “come in with the tide,” relying on the chance that their aspirations come in miraculously from the vast ocean or window of opportunity. There are also those who are unfortunate and whose ships “sail forever on the

Late Adulthood can be a time of distress or fulfillment. It will likely include deep feelings of loss and grief, and may also include a sense of hope and joy. Despair can come from the experience of loss, missed opportunities in the past, declining health, losing friends and family, and an ever-approaching unknown future. Hope and positivity are derived from a sense of purpose and meaningfulness (Berger, 2014, p. 733). How does someone in Late Adulthood successfully navigate this time of life? I discovered one perspective by talking with Mrs. Bonnie Yost.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” A question we all have asked ourselves. Also, the name of a speech given by a professor, named Mark Edmunson. Throughout this verbalization he explicates that people don’t genuinely go after what they optate and what makes them ecstatic, but having paramount figures in their lives tell you what you should value. They tell you what is right and wrong, but it’s mostly how they feel predicted off their own tastes, which does not benefit you. Edmunson explains how people have an idea of what they want to be because of the money that occupation makes, but later they ascertain that they want to do something else. But if they wanted to do it they could, they would just have to push through it; in the cessation, it wouldn’t be something they would relish.

Imagine not having any purpose, or at least so far as you can see. This would be quite depressing, since everyone wants a purpose and a reason to go through trials. This theory is illustrated in the book, “The Alloy of Law”, by Brandon Sanderson. Sanderson uses third person point of view and diction to reveal how self-discovery brings happiness.

The journey through late adulthood can be experienced in different ways. One particular movie entitled “The Bucket List” exhibits an astounding portrayal of late adulthood. In fact, there are many accounts that the movie entails about late-adulthood. This includes the illustration of Erickson’s late adulthood stage – “Ego Integrity vs. Despair,” wisdom, marriage, friendship, parent-child relationship, and death and dying in late adulthood.

It is the dream of all to live a life of greatness; where one belongs, and leaves only the best legacy behind. To have such a life is to have meaning, something which every person looks for. Sadly, due to relentless factors in one’s life this search for meaning doesn’t always work. In Chocolat, Lasse Hallstrom demonstrates how an individual seeks to create a meaningful life, revealing how time and opportunity affect what an individual wants in their life.

When growing up, most individuals do not expect to go through a midlife crisis. As a young individual, you try to grow up and hope to live through interesting opportunities and events. Whether a person has had an interesting life or not, a midlife crisis is not controllable. A midlife crisis is caused by an unbearable internal conflict that cannot escape. During a midlife crisis, an individual participates in delusional actions such as tantrums, violent acts, depression, major emotional changes, and much more. Henry Soames, the main character of the novel, has a midlife crisis that is emphasized through his internal conflict of dissatisfaction with his youth and life by John Gardner, the author of Nickel Mountain. Henry’s

After 40, many people begin to look at life differently which they often begin to feel that life really is too short to be stuck in a dead-end or unsatisfying job. In this middle age situation, it is a time in which adults take on new responsibilities at the workplace and therefore, people of this age often feel a need to reappraise previous life structures with an

It is inevitable that death is all around us. By understanding this, one has the ultimate choice to continue on with their lives or remain in a state of bereavement. An inability to escape this grieving state inhibits one to move on and consequently these feelings dictate and govern our whole lives. This philosophy, existentialism, advocates that as humans we have the power to direct our own lives and pave our own paths. Author Banana Yoshimoto recognizes this ideal and illustrates the journey of how several young adults finally realize their place and meaning in the world despite their struggles. They all face a similar tragedy where their loved ones perished from their lives, and are ultimately challenged to overcome their

Individuals must now confront the meaning of their lives without the assured aid of transcendent purpose and direction, while the daily effort to make "both ends meet" condemns most to a life of "repetition," a la Kierkegaard, under the rule of habit and social conformity. The more we struggle to achieve individuality, the more desperate the effort to liberate ourself from the sway of social conformity and ritual, and the more poignant our inevitable confrontation with death.