11 ms·
Flowers for Algernon, without a shadow of a doubt, had a huge impact on how I regard intelligence in others and myself, and it also put the pursuit of success i
by leksak 8y ago
Flowers for Algernon, without a shadow of a doubt, had a huge impact on how I regard intelligence in others and myself, and it also put the pursuit of success into a new context for me. Lastly, it made me evaluate the prospects one has going into life, with respect to what is (and isn't) under once's control.
- klibertp 8y agoHonestly, "Flowers for Algernon" is the most frightening story I ever read. It made me realize that whatever intelligence I have right now I got basically by accident and that I may lose it at any time. There's nothing I can do to prevent this and - in case it happens - (EDIT: in the end) I won't even recognize what I lost. The only thing I can do is to leave some kind of a mark on the world, right now, before it happens. It turned out to be a great motivation for doing creative stuff - in my case, I chose to write things, blog posts, articles, pet project write-ups, things like this. Definitely one of the most impactful stories I've ever read.
- skookumchuck 8y ago> I won't even recognize what I lost Alzheimer's victims know what they lost, until rather late in the disease. It's part of what makes it a hell.
- drhodes 8y agoA demonstration: This American Life, https://www.thisamericanlife.org/583/itll-make-sense-when-youre-older https://www.thisamericanlife.org/583/itll-make-sense-when-yo... Act Four, A physicist with dementia details the process of understanding an analog clock.
- taneq 8y agoMy maternal grandparents both went that way. Apparently long after they were both essentially 'gone' the nursing home staff would occassionally find them in the main living area, late at night after everyone was meant to be asleep, dancing together. Clearly something of their former selves remained.