Timmy's Essay 20

Timmy O’Brien
Mr. Salsich
English 9
13 May 2009

Hands are the Biggest Burdens of All:

An Essay on a Quote, a Garden Stone, and my Life

When you first acquire a new object or machine, you cannot properly use it. You have to take some time to get to know it; you could read the manual or just play around with it. No matter what, you will soon be able to control your object in a masterful manner by never turning down a new piece of information about how to better use it. Rilke believes that hands are like this to humans, which connects to a stone from the garden and the game of lacrosse.

In a quote by Rainer Maria Rilke beginning with “Seeing is for us…” there are many underlying meanings. To start, Rilke talks about “our hands” being “coffin[s]” that trap what we hold. He says that if we cannot learn to let go of what our hands long to keep with them, we cannot continue to learn. When eyes see, they do not keep that instant of vision with them because they must let it go in order to attain [FAST] more sights, and, in turn, they become more knowledgeable. If we cannot learn to do this, we cannot “truly acquire wealth.” Our hands must learn to let the things they cherish go. For example, when someone picks up a bird or bug to study, they must let it go eventually to go search for something different to look at, giving them a chance to gain wealth in the form of knowledge [participle as a sentence closer]. Our hands are very important to the way we live, but they could be more important if we could teach them to hold on to nothing and let go of everything [antithesis].

Upon first glance, Rilke’s quote does not have much in common with the garden stone, but if one digs deeper, a myriad [FAST] of mysteries are unveiled. Rilke wishes that our hands were “willing to relinquish all things,” which we have not yet been able to do, but this is a possibility for the garden stone. The rock has already “relinquish[ed]” everything, owning nothing to begin with [participle phrase as a closer]. It is therefore in the perfect place to take everything in and acquire the maximum amount of wealth possible for a stone of its stature. In addition, Rilke states that we can only gain wealth “by letting everything pass through [our] grasp” like it is a “festive gate of return and homecoming.” While it was still part of the path, the stone was that “festive gate” because people walked over it everyday on their way into the school. It had all the people in its grasp but let them go in the same manner – quickly, quietly, freely, happily [tetracolon climax and asyndeton]. An innocent yet knowing object, this garden stone has “acquire[d] wealth” through measures beyond its control, the simple act of people passing by and leaving their knowledge in their footsteps on the dirty stone path.

Rilke’s talks about things “pass[ing] through” everyone’s “grasp” so that we can have space to learn more, which relates to my lacrosse career. Whenever the lacrosse ball is passed to me, I have to let go of it somehow. I can pass it, shoot it, or drop it. No matter which way I choose, the game continues on. If our hands do not let things pass through them, they cannot learn to their full potential, which is like lacrosse because things have to keep moving. A fast-paced and physical sport, lacrosse does not live up to its full potential when the ball is stationary [appositive as a sentence opener]. If someone is passed the ball, and they stand still, waiting for things to happen without making a move themselves, the game will be very boring for spectators and players alike. Hands must learn to give things up in order to take on new ones, and lacrosse must be a game of teamwork and moving the ball unless you want the game to go nowhere.

Hands are a vital part of our lives, but we don’t use them very well. If they sometimes forgot their original purpose to hold things and let information pass through, we could live in a different way. Your hands could let information pass over them like a stone at the entrance to a path or a lacrosse ball being passed over and over again during a game. In the grand scheme of things, do your hands help your acquiring of wealth, or do they hinder it?

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Self Assessment

Q:What was the hardest part of this assignment for you?

A: It was hard for me to get all my thoughts down in a somewhat organized manner.

Q: What is your greatest strength in this essay?

A: I think I used most of my special tools well. They were in the right places and had the meaning I wanted.