Day 5 : Ray Bradbury

I had just read this book a few months back. Today, had this sudden urge to re-read one of it story again - The one with the lions. Before I knew it I was re-reading the whole thing.

I completed the it in just a few hours. It is not really a heavy read. Each story flows through like a breeze. But at the end of each there is a jolt, a precise surgical shove that gets to you.

For example this one:

“We're all fools," said Clemens, "all the time. It's just we're a different kind each day. We think, I'm not a fool today. I've learned my lesson. I was a fool yesterday but not this morning. Then tomorrow we find out that, yes, we were a fool today too. I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we're not perfect and live accordingly.” ― Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man

It comes right between a chapter, and it’s not really that much of a high-brow philosophy or MMT (makes-me-think) irony. But by the time you complete the story, this one is there at the back of your head nagging at you.

True.

We’re not perfect. None of us are. We like to think that there is something that makes us stand apart from the rest of the world. While the truth is that we are all similar fools leading similar existence going someplace. Where? Why? We don’t have a clue.

We don’t get wiser of age. Nor are any better than what we were yesterday. The best we can hope for is to just persist, and pray that we don’t commit the same mistakes again and make a bigger fools of ours than we already are!

Today, I declare Ray Bradbury is a freaking genius.