I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out
in a brilliant blaze,
Than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me
in a magnificent glow,
Than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
- Jack London, 1876 - 1916
Jeff King used the above excerpt from Jack London as the epigraph for his book, Cold Hands Warm Heart. King is a four time Iditarod champion and dog mushing record holder. He is passionately committed to his sport and is known as an innovator with crazy drive. One day of my Alaskan honeymoon was spent at his "Husky Homestead" just South of Denali National Park where I got to meet him and see his passion for life first hand. It is truly inspiring to see this fire of a man doing what he was put on Earth to do - living the way he wants, doing what he wants to do in the place he wants to do it.
Exactly two weeks ago, I thought about this (and wrote most of this blog post) as I sat in a cafe at the halfway point in my migration from Cincinnati to Providence, RI. I reflected that I was lighting my own fire - in the midst of burning my own life to ashes. This is a good thing. You see, dreams change colors as you chase them. The natural greens and browns of a midwestern forest were the last colors I chased, embracing the land on my mini-farm. Tonight, as I sit in the shadow of Providence (come on that one was good), I fan the spark of my fire as I chase blue in the Ocean State of Rhode Island and begin life as a New Englander.
Over the years, I have noticed that when I tell you (second person plural subjective) I am considering chasing a dream, I meet a firehose of concerns. How difficult will it be? What if this or that happens? Have you thought about what it will mean to xxx person? What will you do about xxx situation? How long will it take? How much will it cost?
But wait...
If I tell you I am already on my way and the wheels are in motion, then there is a barely perceptible pause during which you choose one of two forks in the conversational road: 1) Self-deprecation - "Wow, I could never do that." OR 2) Jealousy - "Wow, that's awesome! I wish I could do that. Good for you!"
Why is that, do you think? How do you respond when someone tells you they are pursuing their dream?
As the song says, "You only got 100 years to live". What are you doing with yours (second person plural possessive)?
Circle back to ashes and dust. Hemingway wrote something similar I read in the forward to one of his volumes of short stories - something about putting his pen to good use, having it dulled with adventure, rather than see the end of his days with a bright shiny instrument sitting safely in a box, but unused. I buy that - it makes sense to me. It is more than my prerogative to chase dreams as they change over a lifetime. It is a duty, an obligation. Otherwise, seriously, what am I doing here if not putting all my efforts into doing what I am meant to do? I will miss my old friends, my family and many parts of my past life - of course this is true. But I proceed the sum of my prior. On that day, when I sit down for a beer with the Big Guy, I would regret more having not chased all my colors, sought adventure and live passionately - to be a marrow-sucker as Thoreau so graphically named himself.
Then, maybe if I'm lucky, after I've chased all those dreams and regardless of whether I've caught them all, I'll at last have the chops to add my own flavor of "Carpe Diem" to the portfolio of the English language.
jmn
July 23, 2014
Johnston, RI
I would rather that my spark should burn out
in a brilliant blaze,
Than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me
in a magnificent glow,
Than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
- Jack London, 1876 - 1916
Jeff King used the above excerpt from Jack London as the epigraph for his book, Cold Hands Warm Heart. King is a four time Iditarod champion and dog mushing record holder. He is passionately committed to his sport and is known as an innovator with crazy drive. One day of my Alaskan honeymoon was spent at his "Husky Homestead" just South of Denali National Park where I got to meet him and see his passion for life first hand. It is truly inspiring to see this fire of a man doing what he was put on Earth to do - living the way he wants, doing what he wants to do in the place he wants to do it.
Exactly two weeks ago, I thought about this (and wrote most of this blog post) as I sat in a cafe at the halfway point in my migration from Cincinnati to Providence, RI. I reflected that I was lighting my own fire - in the midst of burning my own life to ashes. This is a good thing. You see, dreams change colors as you chase them. The natural greens and browns of a midwestern forest were the last colors I chased, embracing the land on my mini-farm. Tonight, as I sit in the shadow of Providence (come on that one was good), I fan the spark of my fire as I chase blue in the Ocean State of Rhode Island and begin life as a New Englander.
Over the years, I have noticed that when I tell you (second person plural subjective) I am considering chasing a dream, I meet a firehose of concerns. How difficult will it be? What if this or that happens? Have you thought about what it will mean to xxx person? What will you do about xxx situation? How long will it take? How much will it cost?
But wait...
If I tell you I am already on my way and the wheels are in motion, then there is a barely perceptible pause during which you choose one of two forks in the conversational road: 1) Self-deprecation - "Wow, I could never do that." OR 2) Jealousy - "Wow, that's awesome! I wish I could do that. Good for you!"
Why is that, do you think? How do you respond when someone tells you they are pursuing their dream?
As the song says, "You only got 100 years to live". What are you doing with yours (second person plural possessive)?
Circle back to ashes and dust. Hemingway wrote something similar I read in the forward to one of his volumes of short stories - something about putting his pen to good use, having it dulled with adventure, rather than see the end of his days with a bright shiny instrument sitting safely in a box, but unused. I buy that - it makes sense to me. It is more than my prerogative to chase dreams as they change over a lifetime. It is a duty, an obligation. Otherwise, seriously, what am I doing here if not putting all my efforts into doing what I am meant to do? I will miss my old friends, my family and many parts of my past life - of course this is true. But I proceed the sum of my prior. On that day, when I sit down for a beer with the Big Guy, I would regret more having not chased all my colors, sought adventure and live passionately - to be a marrow-sucker as Thoreau so graphically named himself.
Then, maybe if I'm lucky, after I've chased all those dreams and regardless of whether I've caught them all, I'll at last have the chops to add my own flavor of "Carpe Diem" to the portfolio of the English language.
jmn
July 23, 2014
Johnston, RI