We’re all just here on Earth as renters; we don’t truly own anything we come in contact with. Human lives are frighteningly transient; the world we leave behind less so.  How can you claim ownership over something that will outlast you by millennia, if not longer?  Human beings are by nature parasites.  Do the fleas own the dog?  Do the barnacles own the ship?  Do the remoras own the shark?  Do the lice own your skull?  The thought of these paradoxes and others like them is silly.  The only thing we genuinely “own” are our flesh-and-blood bodies, yet even those are left behind to rot once we die and our souls take forever leave of their organic captors.

…..and so, my friends, until we meet again to break bread and sip wine and exchange lively stories, may you always tread in the shadow of good fortune, may the wind always be at your back, may the sun always be warm but not hot on your exposed skin, may your path always lead downhill but not at too steep of a grade, and may the ground beneath your feet always remain firm and non-treacherous. I leave you in the safe comforting hands of God now, my dear brethren, with far more reasons to live than to die…..until the next time we should happen to cross paths…..until we meet again…..

You are what you pretend to be. Play a role for a long enough period of time and you ultimately become that person.  Remember, you are not an automaton that was factory-built and pre-programmed to behave in only one fashion.  Your brain is plastic, your personality is plastic, your usage of time is plastic……your future is plastic.  Yes, your future is whatever you want to make of it, because you can reinvent yourself in an instant and subsequently beeline off in a totally new direction any time you feel the urge.  Don’t blame anyone else for the failures in your life; there is one–and only one!!–captain of your ship, and that is the person you look at every morning in the bathroom mirror while you’re flossing your teeth.

Note:  The following poem is borrowed from an anthology of poetry entitled “The

Changing Seasons of Life”, which was written by Frederick J. Blahnik and published in 2016. 

 

“You Can’t Go Back…..”

By Frederick J. Blahnik

 

And so the small-town newspaper reporter asked the grizzled old man who was living in a nursing home and celebrating his one hundredth birthday:

“What do you think about turning one hundred years old?”

No doubt expecting some flowery soliloquy or long-winded response espousing all of his gratitude for having lived so long

But the old man was taciturn to a fault and surprised her with his brief reply

Inasmuch as he expressed his whole philosophy of aging in a meager four words…..

“You can’t go back…..”

 

“You can’t go back…..”

 

What extraordinary profundity in just four words!!

He could have rambled on indefinitely about the nature of life and the invaluable lessons to be learned on a daily basis and the importance of nurturing critical relationships and the transcendence of a stalwart spiritual faith and his anticipation for advancing forward into a better, eternal place once his time on Earth ends

Yet he didn’t mention any of those things

“You can’t go back…..”

Truer words were never spoken!

 

“You can’t go back…..”

 

We can always look back…..

And think back

And wish that we had done some things differently along the way

And maybe changed or reprioritized some of our intimate relationships from past years

Changed everything, even

We always wonder about how differently things may have turned out had we only done this or done that…….done this or done that..….done this or done that…….

And yet, at the end of the day…..and at the end of a life…….

“You cannot actually go back and do things over…..”

 

“You can’t go back…..”

 

How many times in our lives have we hoped and prayed that we could just turn back the clock and relive parts of our lives and change the course of history–not world history, mind you, but just our own picayune, miserable, inconsequential little lives?

How many times have we laid awake at night commiserating over a bad decision gone awry?

How many times have we found ourselves bellyaching to our subconscious:  “If only I could have a mulligan on that lousy decision I just made……”

Ain’t never gonna happen, my friend……

“You can’t go back…..”

 

“You can’t go back…..”

 

The wizened old fossil could have said anything to the newspaper reporter and, coming from the mouth of a centurion, it would have naturally sounded prescient and profound.

Yet by volition he limited himself to a succinct four words

Four words that should resonate with anyone, which is to say EVERYONE, who has ever made a poor choice in their life.

Sagacious words to live by every day of one’s earthly transit, words that you should definitely not have to age to the dizzying number of one hundred years in order to understand their sublime relevance.

Words that transcend nosy reporters’ inane questions and speak to the very essence of life itself.

Incredibly splendid words by which to live every day of our preternatural existence.

“You can’t go back…..”

 

No, you can NEVER go back………

 

The past is timeless, just as the future—That vast warehouse of worthless, unrequited dreams!—is also timeless.

 

Only the present comes with form and boundaries.

Only the present can be trusted.

 

Today is your only guarantee……and therefore your best–and only–hope when pitted against an unchangeable past and a future sans warranty……

Do not commit the cardinal mistake of being too frightened to pursue TRUE happiness! Comfort derives from rote routine; it is a function of bland repetitiveness.  This routine doesn’t necessarily have to be one of happiness and pleasure though.  Conversely, it may just as easily be grounded in drudgery and despair.  The salient point then becomes this:  Human beings, akin to any of our animal cousins, are archetypal creatures of habit, and that habituation—irrespective of whether it is pleasurable or not—then becomes our baseline for living.  We become inured to whatever we are doing or whatever lifestyle we are living to the point where it becomes comfortable and our familiar frame of reference.  However, that doesn’t mean there may not be greater opportunities for happiness lurking somewhere out there.  In fact—deferring now to the omnipotent Law of Averages—commonly there is.  What we need to do—And, understand, this is NOT an easy thing to accomplish!—is break those stubborn bonds of familiarity and not be afraid to strike out on a new and completely different path.  Do not let blind fear stand in your way!!  Kick it in the testicles—HARD!!!–and force it to flee!!!  If you sense that you are not truly happy and that you are missing out on some integral aspects of life, then you probably are.  Trust your instincts on this!!  Cast aside those burdensome shackles that are holding you back from real elation and thereupon follow your heart wherever it chooses to lead you.  After all, you have only been granted one life; do not let fear of the unknown sabotage and despoil this ineffable gift from our cosmos creator.

…..he found himself wandering aimlessly through this thing called life, lost without a roadmap, unsure what his purpose was for being alive, conjecturing about possibilities yet woefully nescient when it came to probabilities, stumbling clumsily through every happenstance he encountered not unlike a drunk in an opera house…..and he didn’t have one fuckin’ clue what the next day might hold in store for him. Because, after all, without a plan for life–without goals and dreams to objectify and then target as part of a much greater mission…….what is the value of owning a life anyway?…..

The hallmark of a remarkable memory? Recognizing and freely admitting when you DON’T remember something clearly and concisely as opposed to those instances when you do.  Sounds simple enough, but don’t be fooled; it isn’t!  The world is chockfull of individuals with muscular but fallible memories who nonetheless mistakenly believe they can reliably recollect everything they read or witness.  The “often wrong but never in doubt” type of two-legged jackasses.  Be instinctively wary of people like this inasmuch as their powerful memories serve as more of a detriment than an asset.  Being able to recognize those occasions when your memory is not infallible is a gift bestowed upon only a select few.  Be thankful if you find yourself amongst this elite group, and be certain to navigate an ultra-wide berth around those vainglorious people who trust their memories implicitly regardless of skepticism or circumstance.

The truth is just like any other valuable commodity; it should be used judiciously and thus oftentimes sparingly. Honesty is an inherently plastic characteristic and should be treated as such.  For example, it is perfectly okay–even recommended–to omit known details from a recitation if one knows in advance that information will hurt or offend the party you are talking to.  The truth is surely a double-edged sword, but it pays to use only one of those edges when circumstances dictate prudence and compassion.

Once in a while in life–not often, but every now and then–you just have to take a deep breath, close your eyes…..and dive into the deep end of the pool off the high board! Throw caution to the wind.  Defy rationality.  Veer off the safe, beaten path.  Follow your gut instincts.  Trust in your inner self.  Cast aside your strict, oppressive budget.  Above all else:  BELIEVE in yourself!!!  If all you ever do is chase after convention, you are no better off or more refined than one of the multitude of Holstein-Friesians that obsequiously follow the bell cow in from pasture every evening.  But, trust me, you are better than those mindless, docile beasts!  You have been blessed with a strong sense of free will; do not squander this gift by being afraid to take chances.  Life is all about making choices, but if you allow society and others to blindly make every one of those choices for you, then you slavishly deserve the boring, pedestrian fate that invariably awaits.

When is a life fully lived? When is enough “enough”? ……….  When you have been allowed to experience happiness for more than a week straight?  When you have parented a child and thus ensured your future physical legacy will continue to exist on this planet’s surface even after you are gone?  When you have helped make a thousand people happy?  A hundred people?  Ten people?  ONE person???  When you have made a million dollars with your own hands or your own brain?  When you have made sufficient money to retire early?  When that early retirement proves to be less challenging and overall less satisfying than the years of intense effort required to reach such an “idyllic” milestone?  When your children grow up to have children of their own…..and you become a grandparent for the first time?  When, indeed, is a life fully lived???  There is, of course, no true, universally accepted answer to such a basic question, other than this one:  A LIFE IS FULLY LIVED WHENEVER THE PERSON INHABITING A BODY DECIDES THAT IT IS.  Everyone has wildly different standards for satisfaction, and accordingly you should WITHOUT EXCEPTION follow your own inner compass as it relates to pursuing happiness, while reaping the tangible and intangible rewards that will invariably accompany this remarkable temporal journey you have embarked upon.