That has been getting tossed around again by many people in many conversations as of late. My brothers, my friends and, one or two television programs as well as an interview I read in one of my favourite magazines. And NO, it was't Hustler...but it was in the last issue of Batman I read as well...weird.
But then I got to thinking there really isn't anything that weird about it at all considering the state of the world today as we know it. People are frustrated, fed up...we've had enough. Many people I know are currently in a position of stability, I guess but they are far from being stable internally. They took on a new position or an entirely new career within the last year for the stability and they are finding it to be a thoroughly dissapointing experience. Some of them are hating it outright but plugging away regardless, some are hoping for an improvement in their environments and some are waiting for the dangling carrot to drop a little bit closer. Some are smack dab in the middle of a transition phase, unsure of what the next step taken will be.
But at the same time everyone is doing what they have to do. They're floating and they're doing what it takes to stay that way. And that is what it comes down to. I wonder how many people have actually ever read Horace's Odes where Carpe Diem originated from. I assume that the majority of us recall it from Dead Poet's Society, where Mr. Keating used it along with Whitman to inspire the boys to damn the torpedoes and charge full steam ahead into Life, to go out and "suck the marrow out of Life..." A terribly positive and energetic call to arms, to defend the soul and vanquish any threat to chasing and fulfilling one's dreams.
The poem however, is a wee bit different than Mr. Keating's interpretation. It's not this hopeful and heart-stirring suggestion that we have come to think of it as. On the contrary, it's a warning. And a very powerful one at that. The following translation isn't the original but it does employ a language that is more approachable for interpretation...
"Leuconoe, don't ask-it's forbidden to know-what end the gods will give me or you. Don't play with Babylonian fortune-telling either. Better just deal with whatever comes your way. Whether you'll see several more winters or whether the last one Jupiter gives you is the one even now pelting the rocks on the shore with the waves of the Tyrrhenian sea; be smart, drink your wine. Scale back your long hopes to a short period. Even as we speak, envious time is running away from us. Seize the day and trust as little as possible in the future."
So with that in mind, I thought it would be fitting to throw out something a little more positive for us all to be inspired by...ahem...
"when in Rome..."
FUCK the Romans. They had their chance, now it's ours. So if you're having a shitty day at work, STOP. Drop whatever it is, or walk away. Go outside, even if it's shitty out,a ironic complement to the day you may be having, and take a deep breath. Just to remind yourself that you are still breathing, you're still alive. That's carpe diem. That's what ol' Horace was getting at. Don't leap over tall buildings, or climb Everest, or work up the courage to approach that cute guy or pretty girl. Just breathe and remind yourself that you still can.
If you can do that, then you can do anything. Because that's all it takes. No willpower or confronting insecurity or anything silly like that. Knowing you're alive will allow you to do everything you could ever want to do.
And too many of us are too busy trying to live to realize that we don't really have to.
And if that doesn't work, then go out and get plastered. It may not help initially but at the end of the night or first thing in the morning, when you are praying for death to come quickly, you might just realize there are better ways to remind yourself that you are still alive then talking to Ralph on the porcelain phone or going to work with a brutal hangover. Yeah, that's definitely ONE way to know you're still alive...unless you're pregnant. In that case, seize your belly, there is more than enough reminder contained within it.
So with that in mind, I thought it would be fitting to throw out something a little more positive for us all to be inspired by...ahem...
"when in Rome..."
FUCK the Romans. They had their chance, now it's ours. So if you're having a shitty day at work, STOP. Drop whatever it is, or walk away. Go outside, even if it's shitty out,a ironic complement to the day you may be having, and take a deep breath. Just to remind yourself that you are still breathing, you're still alive. That's carpe diem. That's what ol' Horace was getting at. Don't leap over tall buildings, or climb Everest, or work up the courage to approach that cute guy or pretty girl. Just breathe and remind yourself that you still can.
If you can do that, then you can do anything. Because that's all it takes. No willpower or confronting insecurity or anything silly like that. Knowing you're alive will allow you to do everything you could ever want to do.
And too many of us are too busy trying to live to realize that we don't really have to.
And if that doesn't work, then go out and get plastered. It may not help initially but at the end of the night or first thing in the morning, when you are praying for death to come quickly, you might just realize there are better ways to remind yourself that you are still alive then talking to Ralph on the porcelain phone or going to work with a brutal hangover. Yeah, that's definitely ONE way to know you're still alive...unless you're pregnant. In that case, seize your belly, there is more than enough reminder contained within it.
2 comments:
So what is your advice aside from getting drunk for those of us that are pregnant...because that won't really work for us.
To quote the gospels: "...unless you're pregnant. In that case, seize your belly, there is more than enough reminder contained within it."
Post a Comment