Well, I just finished my favorite movie, Braveheart. Its a sad movie but I like movies like Braveheart because they make you think. I live in America, where I am free. I can go anywhere I want. I can buy just about anything I want. I can do just about anything I want. I think we, Americans, forget how lucky we are. If you look back in history you will see that few people live as we do. We are very lucky and privileged to have such power.
My other thought from the movie is a simple one but yet a very difficult thought, How will it end? How will your existence here on earth end? Will you die an old man/woman in bed? Will you get hit by a car? Will you die in a distant land fighting evil? I often feel like people are running from something, I can't put my finger on it but I think that people are running from this question. I think people are running from death. I think people are truly afraid of death. Why? Is it the possibility of pain? Is it the fear of the unknown? To answer these questions I quote the great Peter Pan, "To die will be a great adventure". I think if people could only think like that they would be so much happier. I have another favorite quote "Fear profits a man nothing". It is so true.
Think about it, people spend their whole lives running from death, keeping themselves busy with other things, avoiding the topic completely. It is a hard thought to accept but we are all going to die. It is coming, you can't run from it. I think people today will do anything to keep it off their mind. They stay focused on material things like homes, cars, careers, etc. When they are missing the point of life. They skip over things like family, love, adventure, freedom.
So many people today work to achieve the norm. At 18 I must go to college where I will train for my career. At 30 I will get married and at 32 I will have a child, I will buy a house in the suburbs. I will become a member of the PTA and a Little League Coach. At 65 I will retire to Florida where I will die of some illness that will take several years to full kill me.
PLEASE SAVE ME FROM THIS!!!! Its like some sort of math problem with all the variables already filled in. Whats the point in that? People prefer a life like that because they know what is going to happen tomorrow. You might think me crazy but THAT IS NOT LIFE. Why do you think so many people are depressed these days? Its because there is nothing different about tomorrow or the day after.
I think that if people could accept that they are going to die and lose the fear of death then they would find true FREEDOM. Believe me I know, as a child I was afraid of everything, from the wind to the strange bump in the night. I lived in the fear of the end but I've discovered that living in fear is not living and I discovered that trying to push it back into my brain only makes it worse. Its like a beehive in the side of your house, you don't cover it up and hope for the best. You go in there and gas the little buggers.
But like many have said to me before, "What do you know your just a kid?". That's right I'm just a kid but maybe only someone as simple as a kid can show you what is right in front of your face.
Still interested, I'll tell you how I found true FREEDOM. I answered those questions, I became comfortable with the fact that death is imminent and I found comfort in the fact that although I have to leave this life, God will meet me on the other side and so will all of you. Call me a Jesus freak, call me a fool, call me whatever you like but I am the one smiling.
Today I leave you with my favorite prayer, " God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference."
Catch ya on the flip side.
