TO WRITE: Caring, creating, believing, living. . .
I recently came across the following quote from author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel:
"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference."
Play with this. . .
What can I add to this stunning statement? I suggest you use it as your writing prompt in one of three ways: Write in response to the quote; write a letter to the author of the quote; write from one word/phrase/sentence that you choose from the quote.
Personally, I think I'll write on the subject of indifference itself, and where I notice it in my life and particularly in my depression. Writing about this quote in any way should help break down the indifference that may stifle us at times.
About Me
- Elizabeth Maynard Schaefer, Ph.D.
- My book, WRITING THROUGH THE DARKNESS: EASING YOUR DEPRESSION WITH PAPER AND PEN, was published by Celestial Arts in June 2008. I've been a science journalist, textbook editor and author, poet, memoirist, creative writing instructor and -- sometimes -- a bipolar depressed person, since earning my Ph.D. in biology at Stanford University in 1991. For the past ten years, I've combined my interests in writing and mental health by teaching creative writing to other people with mood disorders in a class meeting at Stanford's Psychiatry Department. I speak on mental health topics, both personal and professional, to a wide variety of groups.
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