Yesterday in class, we got the opportunity to get with our small group and try and build a house of cards. Oh, how fun this was for many reasons.
1) We got to be moving around--not just sitting and listening to a lecture.
2) Bonding time with our group!
3) Got to feel the emotions that C.S. was describing.
It was great because throughout A Grief Observed, we had hearing about the house of cards, and how he keeps building it up, even though he knows he's eventually gonna fall away anyways. But, it's different imagining building a card house and trying to feel the frustration, and getting on your hands and knees and really trying to figure out how to make it work. Our group was honestly planning and really thinking hard about just how to make our house of cards stand up.
One by one, our house was being built up. We would get one section, then maybe one other little section. Oh! and then we got the base complete! It was such a wonderful feeling! Maybe we could actually do this. Maybe we could really build this house up.
But
it
fell.
And there was nothing we could do to keep it up. After the first level was complete again, we figured that we could do the same thing again for the second. But, the cards were no longer on carpet with friction, they were on top of other cards that were slippery. We had just not prepared for the cards to be slipping! How on earth were they going to stay standing up? We were so close and there was nothing we could do to continue to build it up.
I remember one point while we were building that Professor said something along the lines of, "Now imagine that all you have, everything that is important to you in life is built upon this house of cards." DANG. I honestly felt different about what I was doing. As if I wasn't already frustrated enough by it not working, let's place my whole life upon this slippery, unsatisfactory, failing house of cards.
But that's what Lewis felt! And I can relate more now. And I will keep trying and trying even though I know that ultimately there will only be one true ending--
My house of cards falls. My house of cards falls. My house of cards falls.
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I really like your blogs, Anna. On this one, I especially liked the end where you echoed Happy Endings "John and Mary Die." Super cool. :)
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blogs because it sounds like you're actually speaking to me. I can actually hear your voice as I read this. (Is that creepy?)
ReplyDeleteGood stuff! Yeah we did have some fun at least trying to build our house of cards. The cards also prove to be a great analogy about our lives and what we may feel like. And I completely agree that this activity helped us to understand Lewis's pain and suffering to a greater extent.
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