Are you Running Out of Time?

Truman Capote

Depending on your outlook, you will either find the idea that you can now compare your accomplishments against those of others as either depressing or motivational. In this ever increasing world of data overload, how do you match up with the greats and not so greats of history?

There is something especially sinister in this photo of Truman Capote smiling out at us, particularly in light of his own meteoric rise and equally fast fall, as well as the quote he made famous: “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.” Capote died in Los Angeles on August 25, 1984, aged 59. One has to wonder how he might have responded.

A website named the Museum of Conceptual Art has a simple page on its site that allows you to enter your age. After hitting submit, you can see what other people accomplished when they were that same age.

So if you are 23 years old, here are a few of the things others accomplished at that age:

  • John Singleton directed his first film, “Boyz ‘N the Hood.”
  • T. S. Eliot wrote “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
  • English poet Jane Taylor wrote “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”
  • Margaret Mead traveled to the South Seas in a “giant rescue operation” to study primitive cultures before they perished.
  • Truman Capote published his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms.
  • Orson Welles produced and performed his “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast, terrifying millions. He also made the cover of Time Magazine.
  • Jack Nicklaus became the youngest golfer to win the Masters.
  • Francois-Louis Cailler manufactured the world’s first eating chocolate to be commercially produced.

    • Where do you stack up? In light of the above, daily concerns seem pathetically trivial compared to what these people must have endured. Interestingly, they did it all without a smidgen of technology.

    To try it for yourself, go to the Museum of Conceptual Art.

    Source

    ~ by eÆsthete on 09/18/07.

    Posted in Idle Chatter

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