do what makes you happy

ARTIST AT WORK

“Just as you say, sir”

            This sentence caught my attention as Jonas continuously says this to everyone who talks to him. As if they are always dictating what Jonas needs to do and that he follows everything like he is not deciding for himself.

            He has his star. He believes in it. At first, I really don’t get what that star means. Is it believing in his talent or is it his God. At the end of the discussion, it has been cleared that that star is fate. He believes that everything he does is planned, really bound to happen. That all of it is just reenactment. Jonas is good at painting but he knew that it is not him who is good but his fate.

            He is not a typical man. He lives in silence. He’ll be fine with his brush on his hands and canvas in front of him. When he starts, he can’t see anybody. After all, he was able to build his own family. He has his wife, Louise. She is very supportive. She doesn’t mind even though Jonas has no time for her and their children. I pity her, but that’s love.

            Having all his talents, Jonas found himself unsatisfied. He locked himself on his room and didn’t allow anybody to talk to him. He didn’t eat for weeks. His family and friends thought that he just wanted to be alone and paint. But they don’t know that Jonas is being unhappy and miserable.

            The writer of this philosophical reading is an existentialist. But why is it on his writings, the character believes in fate and God? It just simply shows that believing to God will not always be good and helpful. Like what happened to Jonas, he believed and followed his star but seemed to be miserable.

            It is telling us that we have to be independent. Do what you feel like doing. Don’t let anybody dictate you. Its is not always going with the flow but sometimes you must do what makes you happy and take the risk.

Bernabeth Joyce L. Basco

BSBA MM I-1