Life passes. Minute by minute the imaginary constructs that we’ve created to describe our death by millions of tiny cuts move inexorably forward. If there were just one lesson I’ve learned in my life it would be that life passes by and moments frozen in your mind will all you will have left of it before it all slips away in the end.
Life passes. It passes us on the street while we run the other direction, chasing dreams, running from fears, or ignoring the past as it nips at our ankles like an angry dog. We pass our lives because we can do nothing else with them.
Our lives have so much purpose when we wake up in the morning, but by the time the evening comes and the sun slips over the horizon, we’ve yet to make sense of everything we’ve seen and done in our short time here.
One of the most tragic things we can imagine in our lives is the thought of a life cut tragically short. A child passing before they can experience the full range of things that there are to see and do on this little planet that we call home.
In such a way, all our lives are tragic as they will flee long before we’ve seen or done the tiniest fraction of the things that are in the minutest part of our planet. We leave so many places unexplored, so many songs unsung, and so many tastes undiscovered.
Yet even though this all remains true, we can take solace in the fact that we even live at all. The mere proof of our own existence is a greater miracle than any of us could ever witness in ten lifetimes. Though we may live short lives in a vast sea of possibility, we can take comfort in knowing that the opportunity that this gives us is infinite in nature. No two lives are lived exactly the same, and though we may share common joy, similar sorrow, and coincidental parallels of circumstance, we have a life that has been lived uniquely.
Perhaps that’s all we really have to hold on to sometimes but for those moments in our lives when we wonder why we are even here at all, it can be enough to keep us living and hopeful for more opportunity to come.
One of the favorite stories that I have from my childhood is about a ramp that my brothers and I built at the bottom of a very steep hill. We built a ramp and intended to jump our bikes off of it at great speed for the maximum amount of fun. We forgot to aim the ramp, and thus it was pointed directly at a giant tree about five feet away.
Not wanting to be responsible for the potential injuries to my younger brothers, I insisted on going first. As I raced down the hill, I kept my eyes pinned to the little ramp that we had built. It was in front of me like the promise of thrills beyond my young imagination. I can remember the exact moment that I saw the price of such thrills, looming ahead of me, sinister and sturdy.
My entire body braced for impact as the ramp broke beneath the rear tire of my bike and I flew in slow motion towards that unforgiving bark.
I saw colors flash as I struck the side of the mighty tree and I peeled my head away slowly. I left a good portion of my face on the area of impact, but I took a lesson with me.
Every time I looked in the mirror and saw a nemesis of Batman looking back at me, I was reminded of the double edged sword that is life. Life is enjoyment and expense. We must always pay the bill, and we must always accept that sometimes we cannot see the danger that looms just ahead of us.
One minute you are racing along with the wind in your hair, preparing to soar across the sky; the next minute you are scraping yourself off the side of a tree. Either way, it is life and you don’t get that much of it at all. So enjoy it and speed heedlessly towards the ramp. You never know what lessons you might learn and what memories you will take with you to the thrilling conclusion of it all.
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