Sea Wolf

I just finished the Sea Wolf by Jack London. Leant to me by my friend (thank you very much!). Beautiful golden edged hard bound book; but even more wondrous in the effectiveness of the journey it takes the reader through. I'm still a little taken aback by the ending and still trying to make sense of it all. It's the same stuff as art movies in India. And it just struck me, as I write this, that I'm not sure if 'art movies' is a universal or a very Indian term. Basically the type of media that is open ended and thought provoking. No wonderful twists in the end, no painfully euphoric reuniting of torn lovers in the end( I was hoping so badly!). Sea Wolf- raging brutality and barbaric power, culminating in a gradual, silent end. Or depending on which way you look at it, a lifetime of high moral ground, given up and driven out, for the universal will to survive.

And while I was trying to make sense of it, I wonder... We prepare our children for the life they are to lead in all ways possible: good manners to fit in the society, good hygiene, good nutrition for a healthy body, good education for a healthy mind. What about the meaning of it all? The power of love, the purpose of life, the ignominious and the glorious, and the road to choose? Of course that assumes we as parents have figured this out, which, in my case is a long shot. But maybe our legacy to the next generation would be, other than material things, wisdom. Or at least the practice of soulful introspection and a never ending supply of questions.