Is it possible to protect everything that matters to you?

In my opinion, I dont think it's humanly possible to protect everything that matters to you. No matter how much you ay attention to it, no matter how hard you hold onto it. If it's meant to go, it'll go.

Let's say you have this ring that your mother gave you. It was your great grandmothers engagement ring, and she thought it'd be right to give it to you. You'd want to protect that. Do you really think you could? You could try resizing it if it doesn't fit you, you could put it in your pocket, you could put it on a necklace to put it around your neck, you could put it in a safety box. Even then, it's still hard to protect it.

Another scenario; Let's say one of your loved ones comes home one night, and has bruises all over her. Her hair looks like she just got in a fight with mud, her face looks like she got in a fight with a bear, and her clothes almost look non existant. She tells you that there's a guy that attacks her everynight, and laughs when he beats her up. You're wondering what you can do to protect her, but you're always busy with your work, that you could never keep a protective eye over her. What do you do? Do you take a night off and find out who the person is? Do you hire someone to take care of her? That means less money for you, also. If you don't have that kind of extra money, then you're pretty much hopeless.

Now, to tie in with the book I'm reading in English class; Catcher in the Rye...
Not many things pop up into my head right away, for anyone to protect. Ackley doesn't care about anything. Holden doesn't have anything to protect, except for himself. He's a hard character to find out. You'd think he'd want to keep his respect up for school. He does, but he more so doesn't. He wants to keep his respect for people, yet doesn't for most, especially Stradlater. As for Stradlater, well he's quite the character. He always thinks he's better than everyone else in everything. With dating, he pretty much is, according to Holden. He is attractive, good with words, and knows exactly what to say in certian situations. Can Stradlater always protect his self righteousness? Or will Holden rat him out to the girls and everyone else in his life, about how he acts in the dorm? Could Holden own up to doing such a thing? Who knows...

Merideth