An Afternoon in the Moon

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        The meaning that I perceived from Mr. Palomar is that you should be intentional with what you focus on in life because it becomes your reality, like focusing on the good in life will bring good to you whereas focusing on other things will sidetrack you. I think there is also a theme relating to change and our nature as humans to resist and feel anxiety with change, especially when it is sudden or unexpected, like Mr. Palomar’s nervousness that the wind may change the wave patterns that, “It would be disastrous if the image that Mr. Palomar had succeeded painstakingly in putting together were to shatter and be lost.” While I think there are some lessons within this story, I think that it feels like a lot of anxiety and overthinking in it as well, like he’s trying to sort his thoughts on life around him categorically but it doesn’t all quite fit right.

Response to Jade: I definitely agree that people need to be more present and mindful, especially now more than ever when there are so many problems in the world and so much negativity everywhere, it gets so draining. And for now, because everyone has to stay home, all we have to revel in is the mundane so it’s important to be appreciative of what we have and I think a lot of people are caught up in missing what we don’t have anymore. 

Response to Samantha: I think that like you said, Mr. Palomar is comfortable with the moon phases because even though it is ever changing, it is predictable. But he is also uncomfortable with less predictable change. In the same way I think people, in general, are comfortable with change as long as it is not sudden or unpredictable because there is comfort in stability that we don’t realize we crave until it’s gone.