Ian McNee of Nashville, Tennessee, couldn't help but note that, in addition to coming up every day as documented in Ernest Hemingway's classic The Sun Also Rises, the sun sets without fail every night, but he appreciates Hemingway's intentional focus on the positive.
"I'm also a 'glass half-full' kind of person," said McNee. "Not nearly as good a writer as Hemingway, of course. But I totally agree with his point about not focusing on the dark side. Literally."
McNee went on to explain that, like Hemingway, he has always found sunsets almost unbearably heartbreaking. "They get me down every time. So much beauty, and then just total darkness. A total rollercoaster of emotions."
And it is for precisely that reason, says McNee, that he so values Hemingway's perspective on the glowing sphere that gives light to our earth. When asked to cite a favorite passage from The Sun Also Rises, however, McNee demurred. "I haven't actually read the book, but I think the title alone speaks volumes. To me, that's literature at its finest."
Heart-wrenching as they might be, sunsets are likely the only form of solar activity he anticipates witnessing anytime soon, says McNee.
"I'm kind of a late riser. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever actually seen the dawn as an adult. But it's reassuring just knowing it's happening. I think that's what Hemingway was getting at. I'd recommend the book to anyone."
He added, "Don't tell me how it ends, though. I do plan to read it one day."
