Choose a passage from the McIntyre reading that describes a particular aspect of persons as the subject of a narrative. Quote the passage, explain it, and tell a specific, personal, life experience that illustrates its significance with respect to identity (your identity).
McIntyre states in the selection “After Virtue” that “I am the subject of a history that is my own and no one else’s, that has its own peculiar meaning. When someone complains- as do some of those who attempt or commit suicide- that his or her life is meaningless, that he or she is often and perhaps characteristically that the narrative of their life has become unintelligible to them, that it lacks any point, any movement towards a climax or telos. Hence the point of doing any one thing rather than another at crucial junctures in their life seems to such a person to have been lost.”
The idea that we are storytelling animals in a basic sense of we associate ourselves with stories and also that we identify ourselves with our stories and stories of others that we can connect with makes sense. As with everything so far from what I have read of the philosophers ideas, I believe there is more to it than just associating my identity through the narrative story of my life. But the excerpt above from the passage as I read it rings true for me. As I read this part it brought me down a bit because it hit me close to the heart.
I think each day that I wake up and have another day to keep living there is some new chapter to write in my life, there is always something new to learn, something new to give to myself or some one, and some way that I can impact someone else’s life. When McIntyre talks of suicide and how at that point of making that decision, putting that final period on your life narrative rather than looking forward and seeing the stories still left to create and tell and the cause of that is the lack of seeing any point in the rest of your life I saw that in a coworker and friend who put the final period on their story long before they ever should have closed their eyes for the last time.
The coworker of mine during my stint in the military chose suicide because he couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel or as McIntyre would say the climax that would be getting out of the military. He believed his life would never get better that he was forever stuck in the pit of getting treated badly and being at the bottom of the military. Now while I know exactly how he felt as far as how bad people above you can treat you and how miserable life can be in the military I could never connect or find a reason as to how it could be so bad that you would want to end the narrative of his life. But as I read this specific part of the passage what McIntyre said it just seems to fit more than any other person trying to describe why someone would do this. The loss of the point to life, the feeling that there will never be any climax in your life, or the feeling that there will be other crucial junctures later on just connected the dots for me.
Just recently a friend of mine that I grew up with because our parents were best friends just chose to end her life. She was married with kids and a great husband and pretty much anything materially that a person could want in life. She left a note saying she believed everyone would be better without her here, and I believe she lost sight of the climax of her life that could be raising her kids or enjoying a life full of adventure with her husband.
For me how I see it is these two people in my life lost sight of their identity of the stories that they still had the ability to write. I see McIntyre as giving a reason that makes sense to me as to why people may do this. I have never been able and still am not completely able to connect with them on their decision because I still feel as though no matter what there is always a story worth telling and something down the road in life that I have to do a new story to take part in or connect with.
bryanhorsting 