Considering ‘The Great Gatsby’
| 17 | May |
| 2013 |
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
Yes, "Gatsby believed in the green light," and he fought
frenetically against the current of his past toward his hopes and dreams of that
"orgastic future that year by year recedes before us," as so many of us do, as I
have done for too much of my life. But the more frantic our pursuit, and no
matter how hard we stroke the oar, we drift away from our green light. As F.
Scott Fitzgerald wrote in the final line of his book: "So we beat on, boats
against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
So, does that mean we cannot escape our past? Is the American
dream, that promise our country was founded upon, a false dream "that year by
year recedes before us?" I've never believed so.
What was Gatsby's fatal flaw? It was indeed his fight – not
his fight for the dream but his fight and flight from his past.
As a young man, I spent too much energy running away from my
past, from who I was. It was the early warning of Jack Pidgeon, my English
teacher, who saw the potential for Gatsby in me and, over time, awoke in me the
realization that as long as I struggled against the tide and fought where I came
from and who I was, I would never fulfill who I am.
I named my firm Ferrazzi Greenlight with this in mind. I
wanted a daily and vivid reminder that through authenticity and embracing who we
are – who I am – only then can we
change and become who we need to be. Indeed, rowing against the currents of our
past isn't easy, and it can be a lifelong journey, but fighting forward, not back, is the good fight.
Embracing who we are not only becomes fuel for our future, as it was for Gatsby,
but something we can work with instead of against.
"Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. …
And then one fine morning …"
Gatsby never got there, but that's how I want my book to end. Not "borne back
ceaselessly into the past" but instead, “one fine morning.” Not that orgastic
future, just that one fine, peaceful morning ...
together.
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