I would rather my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it be stifled in dry rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
Man's chief purpose is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
-Jack London
It is rare when one sees so much of themselves in another's words. I would be hard pressed to disagree with Mr. London on any of the points he has made, for I came to the same conclusions he did long before I found this quotation. I have seen the outcome of lives spent in waiting, lives spent in fear of the unknown, lives spent approaching each day as if another will come tomorrow. Tomorrow eventually passes, moments are lost, dreams are forgotten.
As a man who is fueled by dreams and the moments that make me love life, I refuse whisper away like the red in the dying coals of a fire. I seek every experience and sensation I can get my hands on. I do my very best to seize the day in any way I am able to. That way, in case I do not wake up the next morning, I can say I had one hell of a ride.
I spoke to my father last fall about death, about how we would cope with him no longer being around.
"Cope?" he said.
I responded, "Well, yeah. It's going to be sad."
He paused for a minute, then spoke.
"Shit, if you stayed awake all day and all night everyday for the rest of your life, you would still be no where near to having the fun I've had... If I died tomorrow, it'll still be hard to catch up."
I took a moment, then nodded in agreement. I think it is needless to say, I'm already working on catching up.