Song #2: Someday Is Now by The Scorpions

http://www.metrolyrics.com/someday-is-now-lyrics-the-scorpions.html

Lyrics

Blood rains down across the tundra Ice flows through my veins As my life drains
Northern bound, my dogs are dying But I still know That nothing is impossible
I can feel I'm getting stronger, the longer I'm pushed to the limit Said, I'd do it someday, someday is now When I see the world around me receding No time for bleeding Show the world how, someday is now
Eight step, till I reach the summit Line breaks and I fall down The rocky terrain
My bones are broken into pieces My mind can't wait To get up and do it again
 I can feel I'm getting stronger, the longer I'm pushed to the limit Said, I'd do it someday, someday is now When I see the the sun is shining, I'm flying There's no time for crying I'm gonna win someday
No turning back, no more yesterdays I just won´t get lost in the haze All my tomorrows, no sadness, no sorrow Watch out for the rest of my days
Stronger,the longer I'm pushed to the limit Said, I'd do it someday, someday is now When I see the the sun is shining, I'm flying There's no room for crying I'm gonna win some way, someday is now
Someday is now Someday is now

I feel that the lyrics to this song best fits the father. In the song, the person speaking mentions that he can feel life draining from him and that he feels he's dying. In The Road, the only reason why the father is keeping himself alive is so that he care for his son. The song mentions not giving up and remaining hopeful quite a bit, which is the central theme of the book.

Song #1: Debbie by Mary Magdalan

Lyrics

Hey debbie,
how you been? its me Mary Jane. you know, your only daughter; the one you left in pain. the one you left over the heroin and cocaine, and its been really hard for me to come see you again. and i don't even know if Im hurt, or if I'm mad...And by the way, have you seen or heard from dad? I think he's doing good he's living with his new wife. I heard she keeps him clean and I guess she treats him right. and I know how pop-pop died really must have hurt you, cancer took the only father both of us ever knew. and its been really hard on grandma, we don't speak any longer; she disowned me too, told me I was just like my mother. and I know that being a teenage mom wasn"t that appealing, but I can still remember the sun you painted on my ceiling. now Im an artist too except I do it for the healing; to take away this heartache and this misery Im feeling.

AND IVE GROWN TIRED OF BEING ALONE
LORD I KNOW 
STARRY EYES CLOSE
AND MOMMA WHY WONT YOU EVER COME HOME
STARRY EYES CLOSE

They say that you and I, we share the same traits... the same pretty eyes, they say they see you in my face. same Cybil moods, same wicked ways, same addictions, except you took it to the vein. I was always afraid of you, the track marks on your arms. and you were always passing out and taking me to bars. or you left me alone, or you left me in the car, now Im all alone and you left me with these scars!
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My sleep is filled with nightmares about the life you chose. were you alone in that apartment, did you really overdose? I wonder, could I have stopped it, did you even leave a note? I didn't even know you lived a mile from my home! that afternoon I heard you died I thought it was a joke; I didn't know that you were sick, or that you had had a stroke. I would have went to see you at least we could have spoke. why'd you have to die so young you were just 33 years old!!

AND IVE GROWN TIRED OF BEING ALONE
LORD I KNOW 
STARRY EYES CLOSE
AND MOMMA WHY WONT YOU EVER COME HOME
STARRY EYES CLOSE

Well here I am momma, standing at your grave. lay my head down on the marble just to ease the pain. I used to come here all the time and pray that you were saved; get on my knees close my eyes and ask the lord for strength. and I understand cause I got my own set of sins, but it makes me sad to think how WEAK you really must of been. you had a choice between your only child and heroin, and it was heroin that won the battle in the end? and not a day goes by I don't think about what could have been, but in the end I'm at your grave fighting tears again. I miss you bad as fuck, my throat keeps tightening up, do you even remember I have a birthday coming up? Until the day i die...not a day goes by that you don't walk with me. there's so many things I wanna say but I guess its just to late, momma... can you hear me?

Even though this song is about a girl and her strained relationship with her mother, its still relevant to the book. Just as in the song, the boy's mother, in a sense, left him. In both cases, the mother was presented with a choice. In the song , the mother had the option of choosing her daughter, or her drug addiction. In the road, the  boy's mother had the option of not selfishly ending her life or to stay alive to help care for her son. In both cases, the mother chose what they felt was best for them, instead of their children.  The boy is still relatively young, so its likely that he doesn't harbor feelings as strong as these yet. However, if the story were to continue into his adolescent years, he would no doubt feel the same pain and anger as the young girl in the song.

The Road VS The Pursuit of Happyness

As I read the book, it reminded me of two movies. One movie was called The Pursuit of Happyness. It premiered in late 2006, and featured Will Smith and his son Jaden. Will Smith plays Chris Gardener, who after investing his entire life savings his portable bone-density scanners, ended up homeless. His wife was unable to deal with their new lifestyle. She decided that it was best for their son, who was about five at the time, to stay with his father while she relocated to New York. A very similar situation occurs in The Road as well. The boy’s mother did not want to deal with living in a post-apocalyptic world. She decided that killing herself was the solution and that it was the father’s responsibility to care for the boy. Both mothers took the easy way out, which I found interesting. Even though only one of them died, they both were in a sense dead to the child they left behind. Neither child had contact his mother. So for Christopher, even though his mother was alive, she was dead to him because he never really knew her son. Another similarity is how we see the survival of both the father and the son is dependent upon each other. A number of times, in both The Road and in The Pursuit of Happyness both fathers had moments when they felt as if they couldn’t bear their circumstances any longer. It was their sons that held them together and kept them going.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xcZTtlGweQ

Would I Just End It All?

It would be very difficult to make a decision. Once I've made my choice I would not be able to go back and do it over if the outcome isn't what I'd hoped for. First, I need to be aware of all circumstances. Am i alone or do I have someone else to look after, like a younger sibling or any other relative? If I have a situation like the father in the book, will I kill the other person as well? Part of me would be a bit curious. However, I would not be able to bear seeing the world as I once knew it completely different from what I was accustomed. Wandering the streets, passing places where memories were made, or even stumbling across corpses of those I once knew is devastating. In the event that I was alone, I would end my life. However, I feel it would be selfish to end my life if I had someone to look after. So in that case, I would have no choice but to stick it out and allow fate to take over.

The Meaning of My Life

What defines meaning? What gives a person meaning and the will to continue to live? Does an individual’s existence have any real meaning or purpose? One can think selfishly and reason that if he or she is happy, then his or her life has meaning. This isn’t necessarily true. Doing this for your own benefit and enjoyment may make you happy and give you meaning, but how does it benefit everyone else? It doesn’t, so it isn’t really meaningful.

Contributing to the happiness of my family gives my life meaning. It makes me happy to see that I’ve done something to make someone else happy. Seeing that smile on their face motivates you to continue on.

Life itself gives me meaning. Everyday is full of new opportunities to learn new things, to search for more things to give more meaning to your life. That never ending search for possibly bigger and better things gives us a purpose, a reason to get up each day. The meaning of life is all about discovery. Learning about ourselves, other people and then sharing that newfound knowledge.

Eulogy

   As I sat at my desk to write Gianna's eulogy, I wondered: How can I write her eulogy so that it's just as unique as she is? My mind soon became flooded with the many fond memories I have of her.  She is actually quite a character once you get to know her. The first time I she was so quite and timid. She hardly ever said a word. Until the day we  discovered that we had many similar interests. That's when everything changed. I was exposed to a whole new side of her. To my surprise, she actually has a great sense of humor. She's also a little fiesty at times, which reminds me of when we were in kindergarden. I was the smallest kid in our class, which made me the punching bag for the bullies. On this particular day, the bullying was much more intense. It was time to go home, and, as usual, my coat was not in the coat closet. Gianna saw the boy take my coat, and once we got outside she kicked the boy's butt. In no way do I condone violence, but it felt amazing to see that kid feel the same way I felt. There has been numerous occasions whwre she has defended me and many others in our class. Thats just the type of person she is, always willing to help anyway she could if someone needed her.
    She's very studious. She loved to read and write. She would read anything, as long as it was interesting. She was a very fast reader too. If a book really grabbed her attention, she would finish it in one day. I always admired her determination and her ability to stay focused. One thing I have to admit is that I hate she is such a perfectionist. Every single little detail had to be perfect. If it wasn't she would redo it however many times it took until it was perfect. As I snapped back to reality, I remebered that I still had a eulogy to write. I once again asked myself: How can I write her eulogy so that it's just as unique as she is? In an instant, something clicked. It is not me who will make her eulogy unique, but Gianna herself. She will tell her one story through me and the many wonderful and one of a kind exeperienced I shared with her.