On my way to the gym this morning I almost rear-ended a Jeep that had one those black, vinyl tire protectors wrapped around the spare tire which was attached to its back gate. Painted on the tire protector were the words,
Life is Short. Live it.
Simple. Declarative. No decoration or funky colorful illustrations to further stress and/or dilute the point. Like the cups that are cracked and hooked above the sink, it made me think (thanks for the metaphor Wilco!). We all have choices to make in life. If we're lucky and have the means to do more than just subsist on what we make for a living, we find ourselves having more choices to deal with than we do decisions. So often life is a matter of no choice and it becomes an endless, almost hopeless pattern of work, TV, bed. You wake up one day and you're old, or worse, terminally sick.
But those who wish to avoid the old, shoulda, coulda, woulda, would do well to pay attention to the words on the Jeep. You must make some very hard life decisions that might not always be so popular with those who love you. Those people who consider you family, friends, and even lovers and partners. Your decisions might even be considered selfish. But then, you must live with yourself day in and day out. If you are a writer or an artist, then you more than anyone know full well what it is to live alone, even when you live with someone else.
As my 47th year winds down, and my new books BLUE MOONLIGHT and MURDER BY MOONLIGHT get ready for publication in December, I look at my writing desk and see two more novels in the draft stages. I see my passport. I see some spare Euros and a whole lot of world I haven't yet experienced. I have my health, my career, my hopes and dreams. Over the past six months, I've spent more time at funerals and wakes than I have over the past six years combined. I know that one day, when I least expect it, my life will come to its final conclusion. Dust to dust. Worms to the flesh.
But for now, I fully realize that I'm left alone to sort out some serious decisions. Life decisions. In doing so, I will keep this clearly in mind:
Life is Short. Live it.
For you it was a close encounter with the back of a Jeep. For me it was minor brain surgery. "Live your life NOW" is the kind of message that wakes you up. You are right about feeling alone in the new life. In my case, one year after I "woke up", in spite of some hard decisions, the feeling at the end of each day tells me I have chosen right. The old shoulda, coulda, woulda do strike occasionally. That only makes the good feel better. Thanks for the post. -- Vijay
ReplyDeleteStrange thing: My wellness club has nearly the same slogan as in your example and it goes "Live your life well". This is how it reads when I enter it. But when I leave it, it gets a new meaning when seen from behind through the glass slide doors: EVIL .... It always makes me wonder how closely things are linked together we want to see so clearly seperated (like health and death). In so many cases death does not come when you least expect it, but it you feel the burden growing when it sits in your neck or is already greeting from the distance. Well, when believing things get EVIL, it might be time to go back through the fragile glass doors of live and give it the other meaning back again - LIVE yourlife! :) Oliver, Hamburg
ReplyDeleteInteresting...Live and Evil...God and Dog...just letters on a page but ironic still...Great comments all...
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