Do You Realize?
Happy 2014!
As I hit a major milestone in my age, I start looking back on all the missed opportunities and hope that my future is better. With that, comes a desire to plan and really strive to keep to my goals. A part of me feels it’s too late, and yet another part of me is upset over the time already lost. Ah, to be on the fence, to be on the cusp of this milestone.
I’m not religious–in fact i’m an atheist–but I can’t help and think of a passage in the bible where it compares mankind’s life to grass or a flower (Psalm 103:15)). It wilts, it withers and dies soon after it hits its wonderful peak of beauty. We have so little time and we either waste it on meaningless endeavors with no long-term benefits, or spend it looking back chastising ourselves for time lost.
I’d like to say that this year will be different–unlike all the other past years and their “New Year’s Resolutions.” Perhaps my next decade of goals will wither away and become part of those statistics of abandoned resolutions. I don’t know. What I do know is that I’m glad for what I’ve been able to accomplish thus far. I’m grateful for the life experiences and particularly the struggles that have helped me grow. Though, I seriously hope I’m on the out, and halfway through this forest of struggles.
All these thoughts also come about after watching a video called The Existential Bummer. Jason Sislva (the narrator) goes on to describe the feeling of sadness when you’re in love, to understand it’s transience–that one day it’ll be gone. This also reminds me of a popular song by The Flaming Lips “Do You Realize?”
Do you realize that happiness makes you cry…
Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die….
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes
Let them know you realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun don’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning ’round
There’s beauty in the transience. There’s beauty in appreciating the short lived beauty and its imperfection. And perhaps, with all this mind, I can set off to enjoying life a little bit more.