Escaping Reality
By Alexis Cucchiara
“What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote it.” –E.M. Forster
E.M. Foster states it perfectly; people read literature to transform their lives. If someone could spend their life hidden away, they would. If people could easily escape to a world of unknown times and places, fairy-tales and loving endings, it's evident that we would. People often find refuge in forgetting their own reality; they seek a moment of escape, a way out. I would only hope that it could be so simple to come back from that alternate reality as it would be to go there, yet there are many people who linger. Sadly, some of this unreality comes from being overwhelmed or overly stressed-out. We often escape our responsibilities by retreating into our own minds. Take, for example, your average college student, he/she often sits in front of their computer in hopes of writing a five to ten page paper that is due soon but end up playing on Facebook or messing around instead of working on what he/she knows needs to be done. Our procrastination is steamed around our need to escape the present and at times, the past.
Our society has made it acceptable to procrastinate until the very last possible moment and not have a care in the world. Distractions have become our escape; some of these include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Books, Magazines, etc. Eric Hoffer said, “We feel free when we escape – …” (Hoffer) and this appears to be true for all of us; we find ourselves reading books, watching TV or movies, listening to music, writing, singing obnoxiously, going for walks… anything that could assist in distracting our thoughts/minds, anything that could help us forget the current situation we have been placed into.
E.M. Foster states it perfectly; people read literature to transform their lives. If someone could spend their life hidden away, they would. If people could easily escape to a world of unknown times and places, fairy-tales and loving endings, it's evident that we would. People often find refuge in forgetting their own reality; they seek a moment of escape, a way out. I would only hope that it could be so simple to come back from that alternate reality as it would be to go there, yet there are many people who linger. Sadly, some of this unreality comes from being overwhelmed or overly stressed-out. We often escape our responsibilities by retreating into our own minds. Take, for example, your average college student, he/she often sits in front of their computer in hopes of writing a five to ten page paper that is due soon but end up playing on Facebook or messing around instead of working on what he/she knows needs to be done. Our procrastination is steamed around our need to escape the present and at times, the past.
Our society has made it acceptable to procrastinate until the very last possible moment and not have a care in the world. Distractions have become our escape; some of these include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Books, Magazines, etc. Eric Hoffer said, “We feel free when we escape – …” (Hoffer) and this appears to be true for all of us; we find ourselves reading books, watching TV or movies, listening to music, writing, singing obnoxiously, going for walks… anything that could assist in distracting our thoughts/minds, anything that could help us forget the current situation we have been placed into.
Procrastination really relates to most college students; do not get me wrong, there are students that take the initiative and do their very best to make sure that they are on top of their school work and will never fall behind or get a bad grade. However, the majority will procrastinate until the day of, or the day before something is due. This has been the demise of many college students. It is time that they come back to reality and realize that if they don't do it, no one will. Some find it helpful to work with other people, or just have other people around while they are working to ensure that they can get something done because their friends and/group members will make sure they are keeping themselves on track. In the end though, the only person they can account for is themselves. People cannot achieve greatness if they constantly find themselves divulging into things that do not correlate with their own lives. We have to come to terms that this reality is the one we have to wake up to each day and bear, so we must live it accordingly.
Even though people are known to escape, in whatever form they choose, they have to somehow come back to the real world, away from their books and screens, in order to function; there is a reason that isn’t their own reality, there’s no escaping the inevitable.
Even though people are known to escape, in whatever form they choose, they have to somehow come back to the real world, away from their books and screens, in order to function; there is a reason that isn’t their own reality, there’s no escaping the inevitable.