Finial Version!!! :))
Cover Letter
My audience is people who are dissatisfied with their current lives and want to change but have nothing to do about it. Many may not know what they want, what they want to accomplish, and continue to be stuck in a cycle without realizing the problem. I used multiple symbols in the essay in order to be able to make the audience feel something. For example, the sailboat described in the essay is the decision that most people make, and when they make a decision the sailboat moves in a different direction. The sailboat in the water refers to the fact that many people are not ready to make decisions and are pushed forward by the waves. I didn’t plan these essays before I wrote them, so I think language and writing is an amazing thing, because I recognize the audience for this essay, so I can be more clear about my approach to writing. However, I actually think the purpose of writing is what makes the most impact on my writing practice, because writing with purpose is what makes me choose to present answers to questions in a different way and make the audience aware of them. In fact, most people are lost in life, like a fly on the wall, and when faced with a confused and boring life, some people will choose to travel, some will choose to meditate, and some will look for a desperate escape. This is not a bad thing, perhaps these are leading people to find their own answers. If you read carefully, you will find that the sea of people in the New York subway station, or the sea, is actually related. The sea of people refers to people being pushed along. From the very beginning when I followed the signs to the end when I knew the route with my eyes closed, it emphasizes the rushed nature of New Yorkers, and the fact that people don’t think about it. If I had more time, I would change my grammar and refine the meaning of each of my sentences. The question I’d like to ask is whether I need to refine my answer, which is my future direction, and I’m not sure if this would be a better addition.
We lost our way
I have been lost in the sea of people like many others, trying to find the unique lighthouse in my life. However, in the sea of people covered by fog, all of us are blindly moving forward. We don’t know what to do, we don’t know what to choose, and we are pushed by time towards each important choice, but we are not prepared. What kind of work do you want to do in the future? What is your chosen major? As a college undergraduate student, I can tell you clearly that I don’t know. It’s not just me. Most college students are not confident when answering these questions, and the biggest problem with this is confusion.
Every time I have to make a choice, I have asked myself countless times what I want to do in the future and what I want to choose. But then I would all end up choosing the most popular major, or the job I personally envisioned, without me sitting down and thinking about what I really wanted to do.
The 7 train to Manhattan and Queens operates 24 hours a day, subway delays are the norm, and rats are blatantly seeking out the tracks. The scariest part is the rush hour subway, the crowds, the shoulders, the fact that I can’t stop, that if I do I would be pushed out of the way by the crowds, not being able to catch the trains that are always not on time, not being able to catch the group of New Yorkers that want to get to the station. People around me were so tall, and I was looking for directions in the crowd according to the subway indicatorsCompared to the rush of busy New Yorkers, my left-look-right behavior seemed out of place for me. Gradually I joined in this pattern, always sitting in the first carriage, the seat closest to the door, reading ” The Why Are You Here Cafe”. The book has these questions for the reader:
“Why did you come here?”
“Are you afraid of death?”
“Are you content?”
John, the main character, is chagrined and tired due to much unsuccessful work, and easily has time to travel on the weekend, but is caught in a traffic jam caused by a car accident on the highway. If it takes 2 hours to wait here, another option is to turn around. With everyone complaining, John chose to make a U-turn. Unfortunately, however, John’s navigation was broken and the car was running out of gas as he drove like a fly on the highway blindly looking for his destination. In his extreme helplessness to see the car fuel is about to be consumed, in the experience of more than 3 hours of desolation on the highway, he saw the only cafe on the highway. The question above is what John saw on the menu. Even though he thought it was counterintuitive but still thought about it without thinking about it, I also went back and read the questions again without thinking about it.
As I saw people around me with their own firmly chosen professions, I became worried and anxious about my own future, about the future I had envisioned as a child, and I didn’t want to just be crushed by reality.
“Why did you come here?” Because I am confused; because I want to find answers; because I don’t want to continue to be anxious.
“Are you afraid of death?” No. For me, death is still far away for me at my age, but I dare not say I am not afraid of it. In fact, I am afraid of the death of people around me.
“Are you satisfied?” To be honest I’m not satisfied.
After answering these questions, I pondered for a moment, a moment that gave me chills. I found this book because I was lost, I wanted to make a change because I was unfulfilled, and I still had a chance because death was far away.
It was all in a moment, magically so exciting for me, and I always felt like it was an inspiration like I’ve never felt before, like a dead nerve being resurrected and touched. I’m grateful for this book, which made me think hard when I was lost, in the rush of the city, in the noise of the subway. It made me understand the real meaning behind the simple and easy-to-understand truths.
I love the line in the book that says, “The answer to your own question is something that only you can decide.”
In the tedious constant cycle and hand-wringing of life, few people have the time to stop and think about what direction a sailboat should be going, rather than following the masses. I am fortunate that I am able to know this. As my thoughts are guided, my sailboat is no longer going with the flow, but is purposefully moving in a direction.
For the moment, the fog lifted and I found the lighthouse where I belong.
A Letter to the Reader
Dear Readers.
Hello, I am one of the readers of “The Cafe at the End of the World”. I think this book must have helped many of us to put our minds down in a way that made us think when we were at our most confused. I’m curious if you all found your own answers after reading it, or if it helped you realize the problems with your current situation? Will you do the same as Mike and Kathy who guide John in the book to help people who are reeling? Sorry to ask so many questions at once, but of course I wanted to know the answers so badly, because I was desperately looking for my own answers as I read. I think everyone who reads this book and finds the answers differently, just as the book says it describes. I read this book twice, and the first time I finished it I didn’t understand what it meant, what the book was trying to teach me. Because the first time I read the book, I went through it with the mindset of a task. Compared to the second reading, I spent more time thinking about it, I would stop and think, think about what John was thinking, think about the meaning of the story Casey said. I slowly brought myself into the story to choose my answers. I don’t know if I’m like the public, but I didn’t find the answers in a short time after I finished the book. At first I doubted the ability of this book because I still didn’t know what my goal was and what I wanted to do. I kept going through other people’s reading notes to try to find the answers, and after seeing them solve the current situation in their lives one by one, I was even hungrier.
From the reader who are walking with you – ZhenNi