In eighth grade english I was shown a picture. A lightbulb turned on, and a lightbulb turned off. A fairly simple photo. I was told (by my all time favorite teacher) to write down my thoughts about it in five minutes. The expected response was a couple paragraphs; my response was a couple pages.
Allow me to share my thoughts (in summary form):
This picture represents life and death. The lightbulb turned on is life, and the other, death. I have come to this conclusion because a lit up lightbulb is portrayed to represent an idea. It also represents energy. Those two coincide quite well. You see, without ideas, we, as people, have no energy. Without ideas, there is no motivation to get up and do something, no inspiration to make a change. Also consider, without energy, there is an extreme lack of motive to even attempt to form an idea. You need both for them to exist. They are a team. Ideas and energy make up life, because nothing would happen if someone didn’t have them. This simple photo of a lit up lightbulb represents the light of humanity and everything our minds bring.
The lightbulb shut off represents death, but not in the literal sense. Without ideas and energy, a person does not simply die off. That’s not how the world works. It represents the death of the mind. Without your own ideas, you become a follower. You become brainwashed by what society tells you. There is no opinion on what is right and wrong, it’s just what everybody else does. This shut off lightbulb represents how people can wither away without their own original thoughts. They become nothing, useless to the world. A potential bright light that unexpectedly flickers out.
…
These thoughts seem quite complex for an eighth grade girl, but that’s how most of my writing was. It was that class that I realized how much words mean to a person. It was there that I learned how to let myself go, how to rid of any troubles I may have had. Where I realized that writing was a passion.
I will never forget that photo. It means so much to me. This photo motivates me to continue to be that beam of light, and to inspire those on the verge of flickering out.
Coffee and a Macbook 