What is the point of living?
Why do we try so hard to stay alive?
Why do we go to school, and study so much?
Why do we work, and stress so much?
Someone once said that life is short
But what was he comparing it to?
Because living is the longest thing I’ll ever do
Is there something you can do longer?
Many people over many years have asked this question
Have pondered their existence on this planet
They look at the sky and see trillions of stars
Billions of people
Thousands of places
What am I?
What are YOU in this cosmic infinity?
Some compare it to a drop of water in the ocean
Some compare it to a long winding road
With exits and detours
I don’t think of life that way
I believe life is all about love
Not just love for that someone special
Love
Love in and of itself
Love, that indescribable emotion that brings people together
Love is why we live
Love was why we were born
Love is there throughout our lifetime
And love will be there after we die
Which one of us has never felt love’s unrelenting touch?
Or suffered its consequences?
Who among us can say that we have never loved?
Or been loved
Life is full of surprises
Some great, some small
Some memorable, some as easily forgotten as this poem
What makes the difference?
Love
You will never forget your mother, or father, or brother, or sister
Or friend, or cousin, or uncle or aunt.
Or teacher, student, or girlfriend.
Love
Think back to that happy time in your life
No matter where you are now...
Just think back to that time of unbridled happiness
Why were you happy?
Was it the friends? Or the music? Or the atmosphere?
No my dear, it was love
Love for music, love for people, love for life
Some people are more fortunate than others
Not in the sense of money or talent
No
Some people know what it is to be alive
Some people can sit down and see more than what their eyes show them
Some people take phrases like “live your life to the fullest”
"No one's promised tomorrow"
Or “life is short, don’t waste it” and other such mantras
And fully understand what they mean.
Death is indiscriminate
Death is uncaring
Death is selfish, greedy and unthoughtful
Death is inconsiderate
Death is sudden,
Death is many things
But most of all, death is unfair
If it is one thing that we each have in common
Regardless of age, status, looks, finances, friends, cultures,
Origins, backrounds, beliefs....
We will all die
Each and every one of us will someday face death
This fact depresses some people
No one wants to be reminded of their own mortality
Millions of people live each day, blissfully ignoring this simple, unchanging fact...
They will die
Have you ever wondered, like I do, why old men wage wars for power?
Why they spend so much of their life amassing riches?
Why they are so ruthless and determined in their pursuits?
Alexander the Great conquered many nations
Napoleon fought many many wars
Adolf Hitler sought to change the face of humanity
This earth has seen a very vast number of great; monstrous; memorable people
But no matter their accomplishments,
No matter their wealth
They all share the same fate
Death
So why then do we live?
Why do we struggle so hard for something that will not last for us?
For the future?
For the next generation?
To always be remembered?
But why?
Why do you want to be remembered?
Who does that benefit?
The world knows your name
The word knows the great things you’ve done
You are a great memory in many people’s mind
But lying in a box six feet under...
How does that benefit you?
Is that really why you lived your life?
To be remembered?
I don’t know about you
But me, I don’t live to be remembered
If I died tomorrow, and the only person that remembers me is my mother
It would mean just as much to me as if billions came to my funeral
I do not live for remembrance
I live for love
As someone once said, "everything is love"
And I agree
I work hard to get a job, so I can occupy my time doing something I LOVE
I surround myself with people that affect me positively
And truly care about me, or at the very least have love IN them
I love people, I love the mornings, the afternoons and the evenings
I love being able to breathe on my own
I love that I can see the world around me and all of the little things
That sometimes go unnoticed...
A tree, a pond, a cloud, a sunset..
Walking
Talking
Eating
Fighting
Loving
I love life
Life may not love me back
But I love life
Life may not be fair
But I love life
Simply because I know the alternative
Do you know the alternative?
Never being able to do ANY of the things you do now
NEVER feeling happy
NEVER feeling surprised
NEVER being amused
NEVER laughing
NEVER smiling
NEVER being smiled at
NEVER being spoken to
Death is a lot of things, but there is something else that people never remember
Death is lonely
No one dies together
You always die alone
U may be around someone at the time of your death
Someone may even share the same time of death as you
But death itself....when you descend to that darkness
You are alone
Alone in the dark
No one knows for sure what that feels like
And those who do know, cannot tell us
But if it’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s this...
Life is better than death
No matter how badly life treats you
No matter how alone in life you are
No matter how little you have
Once you are alive, there is something to be done
If life wasn’t better than death, then tell me this...
Why is it we have only ONE chance at life
But infinite chances to die?
What separates the two is still love
Love your friends, love your enemies
Love those who love you, and love those who hate you
Because once your life is full of love
It is in no way wasted.
Don’t dwell on death, for it WILL come...
Dwell instead on life,
Dwell instead on love
You don’t need a boyfriend or a girlfriend to love
Just love
Love infinitely and sincerely
For that is the meaning of life
Jesus Christ’s most powerful message to the world was to
“Love your neighbour as yourself”
Not “be nice to your neighbour”, or “give your neighbour nice things”
No
LOVE your neighbour
So whenever you sit down, and you wonder why life is so cruel
Or how much you want to just die and not be here
Remember this
You are loved
You may not know who loves you
You may not know they love you at all
You may not know how many people, or how much they love you
But you are indeed loved
And if you look around you and you can’t see anyone that loves you...
Maybe you’re in the wrong place
Maybe you’re with the wrong people.
I love you, and I'm not alone in that...
Love is infinite, love is abundant
But most importantly
Love is yours
[7th May 2007]
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