Aguon

 Properties of Perpetual Light 


I enjoyed the first half of the book, Properties of Perpetual Light by Julian Aguon, and I was most drawn to the commencement address he gave in 2009. In this speech, he selected three lessons he learns from the story of the women fishermen. 

First, he argues that no offering is too small and that no matter what we do in life, we are all qualified to save the world. However, in order to save the world, we all need to contribute. We are all qualified to do it, but it does not mean we can do it by ourselves. Saving the world is difficult, and we all need to do our part to make it a better world. This will not come easy though, as many of us, Aguon argues, have not experienced enough magic to see a world worth saving. I agree with this thought, as so much of the news and media is focused on the bad, sometimes we can feel as though there is nothing worth saving. But when we are able to put ourselves in other people’s experiences and lives, then we are able to experience the magic that comes from life. 

Secondly, the idea that we ‘profess to love freedom permit others room’. This means, we have freedom and are our own beings, but we should not limit the help we receive. For example, on a much smaller scale, when I cannot open a jar, instead of risking breaking a knife or said jaw trying to pop it open, I should accept my dad’s help because it is quite literally a fact that he is stronger than me. That way, we then can both enjoy what is in the jar. Aguon makes a similar point to the women in the story. Even though they came up with a solution to their problem, they will still need the help of men because it is too heavy. However, I would like to draw attention that I am not saying men are inherently stronger because they aren’t, but in the story of the women, it was strength in numbers that they needed. 

Now writing about beauty is something I could do forever, but I agree with Aguon and offer a point of my own, we will always want what we don’t have. We can apply this to any point of life, especially beauty. But, it is what we do with that wanting that makes it worthwhile. Personally, for me, I try to embrace what I do not like and emulate it. Sure we can change our bodies, but we do not have to and there actually is a lot of beauty within all of us.


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