Live

A few things I saw recently:
-There was a segment on World News Tonight about children with terminal cancer.

-There was recently a young man (20-something) on ESPN2's morning show Cold Pizza who was terminally ill attempting to accomplish his life's dream of going to a game at all of the Major League Baseball ballparks.

-This blog post, linked to this Washington Post article, lamenting the decline of writing by hand.

-The movie 'Human Nature' by Michel Gondry, penned by inimitable screenwriter Charlie Kauffman (the same writing-directing team behind the acclaimed 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind')

-I spent about an hour outside cleaning the pool and front porch, typically not the most enjoyable tasks, and yet I was just happy to be outdoors for a change. (I think most of us, especially me, spend far too much time in buildings, offices, cars, and houses.)


--(I also saw the debut of Mr. T's incredible new show, 'I Pity the Fool', on TV Land last night. I don't know that it's really related, but I wanted to mention it too as long as I was mentioning things.)

All of this combined to make me keenly aware of the nature of life. Life is not something we've earned, or to which we are entitled. No, it is a gift, freely and undeservedly given to us all. We are alive because of reasons beyond our control or comprehension, and so to we will all die.

I feel like most of the time we just take Life, capital L, for granted, assuming we'll live out our 3 score and 10 and then shuffle off this mortal coil, on to some after-life (or to reincarnation, or a state of non-existence) and don't realize what a gift it is to be on the aforementioned mortal coil.

Nothing is guaranteed, we could all be gone tomorrow. So I urge you, I implore you (and myself), don't be a "couch potato", don't be a "mouse potato", don't live unconsciously.

Choose to Live.

Choose Life.