Life is...

     So, my last post for this class was "Death is..." Now this one is Life is... Because life and death aren't exactly tangible things, so it's hard to write two 600 word papers about them. When I talked about death, my paper was very positive, so since death is the opposite of life this one should be negative right? WRONG! In my last blog, I stated that death isn't the opposite of life, it's the abscence of it. So, what is life? Life is the most complicated thing, in my opinion, that we will ever go through. It's easy to die, but living takes strength and courage. I'm not trying to abjure the importance of life, it's just that life is difficult to comprehend. We didn't exist, then one day we did and from then on we would exist kind of forever. Our lives can completely change the world. Life is rough, exciting, difficult, and august. Life is a conflagration. It is full of compunction. It is also elated. Considering most of these are antonyms, I realize I probably sond like I am contradicting myself, but honestly, life is complicated. It is nothing but everything at the same time. I could ruminate about life all day, but I would never be able to come up with a trenchant meaning. Life is taken for granted. A lot. But it shouldn't be. Our parents knew, roughly, when we will be born. A cancer patient knows when they have "two weeks to live", but no one actually knows when they will die. When my grandmother got cancer, her doctors told her she had about three months to live. After two months, she started getting better. She went from being quiescent, to being more lively. She was able to walk around and go to church. She believed that you had to do what you wanted to do when you wanted to do it because no one was promised a tomorrow. She was a strong Christian. When she started to get better, she went to church, and she loved to sing and play the piano. We had a Christmas at her house where my cousin, brother, and I put on a very short Christmas play composed mostly of singing, since it was her favorite. It was the most lively she had been since all of the treatment. Who would have thought that just months later she would die? One of the last places she went in her life was to my church. Against doctors orders, she went to my church to see me get baptised. Weeks later, she died. Some could say that if she had not gone all the way from Elizabeth City, North Carolina to Lumberton, North Carolina she might have lived longer. However, I know that, while the drive was hard on her, and she might not have been so worn out if she didn't come, she would have felt like she missed out on something in her life. Her doctors orders were irrelevant at that point because my baptism was indelible for her, and it was something that no one, not even the doctors would take away from her. She would have rather lived just a few more days and been at my baptism than lived another few months, callous from not being able to be there. I think my grandmother understood the clandestine that is life. Life isn't about quantity. It's not about how long or short you live. Life is about what you do with it. Living a long, acrid, tacit life for me, would not be as good as living a short, but exciting and memorable life. Some might find it a platitude to say life is what you make it, but I think that is a perfect quote. I can and have been typing this paper for a few hours on what "Life is", but I will never be able to tell you what YOUR life is. Some lead an indulgent life. We like to refer to them as the "followers". Some constantly quell others or themselves. Some are depressed and nocturnal. Some are active and jubilant. Some live inveterate lives, while others live short lives and die meaningful deaths. Life is the most complicated thing we will ever go through. it has great power and great importance. Life is different for everyone, yet in some ways it's the same. Some live lives that are too short. Others live lives that are too long. If you do it right though, your time will be just right.

Song: It's my life by: Bon Jovi