Being young is always seen as something similar to being
free and able to take any course of action or make any decision. Youth is not
seen as a period of confusion, indecision or inability to do great things in
life. M. Preda sees the young adults as individuals who take great decision
easily and are sometimes stunned by small ones.
“Risipitorii”/ The Wasters is a novel of a brief period in
anyone’s life, when major decision are prone to take place and some of the
decisions made are haste and have an effect that contours the entire life.
Decision taken too easily can make an impact on people triggering turning
points in a persons search for purpose in life. A young woman who marries a
young doctor without having a clear idea about married life, finds herself,
after an abortion, left for another woman, and thus seems to forget the purpose
of her existence. In the confusion set by her depression she learns to enjoy
life once more and knows that from now on she will forever keep a mark of what
it means to be without meaning, but will continue to live for a meaning
discovered as life succeeds this crisis.
Other crises are described, for instance the meaning of
living with the person you love, can appear for those who live it complicated, and
yet simple for those seeing it from outside. The search for professional
achievement can sometimes fail and leave the person with the impression of uselessness,
trying to live with a new purpose. The search for love and fulfillment in a
family life can seem daunting and like a purpose for many who see it as eluding
their life.
Many times the thing which we seek most and consider as a
purpose is the thing we cannot attain. We continue to force our mind and
actions into creating new alternatives for reaching the same idea over and over
again, without even considering for a second time if that thing/idea is really
what we need to be happy. Sometimes the happiness lies in the process, as it is
described throughout the book, Flow. The psychology of optimal experience, and
I believe that the process of creating and achieving your purpose is one of the
most personal things one can do with their life.