Last night, I read from Arthur C. Clarke's "Tales of Ten Worlds" some short stories, specifically "The Road to the Sea" and "Death and the Senator".
"The Road to the Sea" dealt with growth and stasis, where true art can never be established in a vacuum (no pun intended), but like the ships of old, through discovery, curiosity and most of all, understanding. Only stagnation awaits where one refuses to experience, spread.
"Death and the Senator" was clearly famous enough to warrant it's own Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_the_Senator), as a powerful man reflects on his ambition and how it finally ended up killing him. Recognizing his bad habits and addiction to his ambition is too powerful, he gives up his one and only hope to instead recover what he denied himself so long -- his humanity, his family and the beauty of the world he had so long sought to control, now rendered insignificant under the eyeglass of time itself.
"The Road to the Sea" dealt with growth and stasis, where true art can never be established in a vacuum (no pun intended), but like the ships of old, through discovery, curiosity and most of all, understanding. Only stagnation awaits where one refuses to experience, spread.
"Death and the Senator" was clearly famous enough to warrant it's own Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_the_Senator), as a powerful man reflects on his ambition and how it finally ended up killing him. Recognizing his bad habits and addiction to his ambition is too powerful, he gives up his one and only hope to instead recover what he denied himself so long -- his humanity, his family and the beauty of the world he had so long sought to control, now rendered insignificant under the eyeglass of time itself.
