Let Go and Learn

A common questioned that people that are used to fortune in their life, might ask themselves a lot is: if my luck changes, will I be able to survive? Loosing everything you have or starting with nothing and eventually having a lot, are the cases that clarify to people, what is important and what is not. If you start from scratch and slowly start gaining more and more, you might tend to compare with the way you used to live and accept that what you have now is not crucial. In the other case, if you used to have a lot and somehow end up with nothing, you must look back take the knowledge and values you have and let go of the rest. However, what disappoints me the most, are those who don’t let go of their past or don’t learn from it.

In the case of Candide, he had to let go of his plentiful life and learn to live with nothing. Since the beginning we can see how hard it was for him to let go and become humble, by the way he thought everyone was at his service and how coward he was. Later on, I lost this impression when he was reunited with Pangloss, since his tutor could guide him more and managed to close his mouth. Nevertheless, I think that bringing an element from his luxurious life won’t let him adapt well to what he is forced to be. In addition, with Cunégonde back in the scene, I fear he will make an effort in bringing back his life rather than learning and adapting to the harsh life.
I feared that the same happened to the old lady. When telling her story we could see how she lost everything and she had to go through tragedy after tragedy. However, after she was rescued by the man, that later on she would find out he was her teacher, the lady was in a tolerable state and he complimented her saying, “He had never seen anyone so beautiful” (Pg. 53). Comparing how the old lady in the present, and how she was after being rescued, made me think that something even more radical than the change of her entire life had to happen, for her to grow like that. I thought that maybe, because this person from her past life came in, also made her change her objective, and instead of living the present she tried to copy her past into her future.
With both of this stories I remember the movie, Gone with the Wind. The protagonist Scarlet O’Hara lost everything she had during the war. During those moments she pulled herself back together, gained strength and started working and leading people to grow back the fertile land she once ruled over. However, there was Rhett Butter that had more luck than her during the war and he was constantly in the scene looking after Scarlet as much as he could. Later on Scarlet grows back into the spoiled rich girl she used to be and learned nothing from her experience, forcing Rhett to leave her completely alone.

There are moments in life were a person has to learn to live in different circumstances and have to let go from their past. Having a person or an element from the luxuries they used to have, might be an obstacle for them to learn to live in the present. No matter if that person ends up in bad or good circumstances, that intrusion might spoil all their learning.