In Praise of Margin

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In Praise of Margins ESSAY As we reach adulthood and have a professional career, there are far greater demands and responsibilities we need to commit in order to “function” right in our economical society today. With the stress that goes along with those responsibilities, we just can’t help but to sometimes take time off from everything we do in our society and spend it on things that are “marginal”. In Ian Frazier’s article “In Praise of Margins”, he reveals the value of marginal things and defines it as an un-purpose, free-form aimless activity that don’t quite work out, and though it doesn’t account for themselves in the economic world, it is important and necessary for our lives. For young Ian Frazier and his friends, their marginal place were in the woods. It was a place where they “can try out odd ideas” (Frazier p54) and do whatever they feel like doing, without having to worry about what others may think. They did stuff like stomping on ice, throwing rocks at a mudflat, or shooting frogs with slingshots; and even though this things may seem pointless in an adult’s point of view, it gave them the sense of freedom to just let loose and break free from everything else in our society. To Frazier, the importance of having marginal spaces became more evident when he reached his adulthood. For example, when he mentioned about going fishing with his children and letting them play in the mud, he didn’t bother stopping them, because he knew in the back of his mind that those “pointless activities” are important. As he mentioned, our lives get more jammed up as we grow up, and that is why the idea of marginal places was more evident to Frazier as an adult because he realized that it is important to take a break from all the work in the economic world. Throughout his passage, there was a subtle struggle of connection between Frazier’s childhood and his adulthood.
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