1964.

Do it. I’ll explain the title later, but I must reiterate a point that I find is tremendously important in life. Often, if not always, you’ll find quite a few movies about those few characters that want to do something, but have some sort of life plan, or expectation from the world, their family, their friends, or somebody else, to do something different. The world tells them you ought to be successful, but the truth is, all they want is to pursue photography. I was watching this film where they mentioned an old Arab proverb that said, “Throw your heart out in front of you, and run out to catch it.” Although it is nice to live life with some type of assurance, and although its definitely nice to have some sort of certainty in what will happen next, and what you will do in the future, I am here to argue that perhaps it isn’t worth it.

Whether you’re mathematically oriented or not, it doesn’t take a brilliant man to realize that if our life span is 100 years, and you will, most likely, spend your first 20 years through school and uni. That’s already a good 20% of your life at most. Now, let’s take out the 30 years that you will spend (from 70 to 100) not being able to really function all that well, and living a more calm and relaxed life. We’re at 50% and half way there. So that leaves the time span of from when you are 20, to around when you are 70. That’s a good 50 years. Want to have children, and get married? Alright, that adds on another 30. Let’s say it’s a few years for finding your loved one, getting married, and a good 25 years for 2-3 children, depending on how separated apart you have the kids. Now, this requirement has a bit of a limit, because I would argue that you don’t want to take care of your children from when you are 60-70, because you are a bit too old to do so. Alright, so that leaves from when you are 30-60 as the time you will get married and take care of children. Makes sense, so assuming those are all things you want to do, as it is for most people, this leaves the age from when you are 20 until you are 30 as what I’d like to call the ‘prime time’ of your life. Now, don’t take any of the divisions I said previously as true, or hold me to them, because I think that’s bullshit. I’d like to argue that you can and should enjoy your life for the entirety of it, but it helps to start the argument about what you should do with your life. My point from here on is that perhaps you have seen a commonality in many movies where there is somebody in a very common day job, doing nothing with his/her life, who finally goes out and takes a chance and goes crazy. You do something spontaneous and that changes absolutely everything. To give a few examples, perhaps you’ve seen the movie 21, where Ben Campbell, soon to be graduating from MIT and accepted into Harvard Med, has no idea what to do to impress the scholarship that will give him a full ride into Harvard. Then, one of his professors sees potential in him, and invites him to count cards, and long story short, it wasn’t too much of a brilliant idea, but it was a life changing experience that truly made him live. More evidently, the movie Cemetery Junction truly hits the topic hard on, as three blue collar workers are doing nothing with their life and finally realize the importance of simply living it the way they want to. The imagery of a rich and bored husband who doesn’t even say thank you to his wife hits you to the core, as you realize that it truly is important to take your chances and go out there because a life that is secured and a life that has lots, to say, its question mark, is a life that has lost its excitement. What’s the point of living a life in which you have fully planned out and a life that is secure.

Maslow argued that security is a necessity in life, and that having that security is something you need in order to feel true happiness. I agree, but I think we have taken the definition incorrectly. Security does not mean knowing what you will do in the next 20 years. To me, security means having the confidence to know that because of what you know and who you are, the next 20 years will be truly amazing, because you feel confident and secure in who you are. That’s the true feeling that gets you happiness. No doubt, thousands of others go around and panic because they do not know what their family will think of them in a few years because they don’t have the confidence to believe in themselves. They are strong enough to hide away their dreams, and strong enough to hide their true desires in life because of the fear they have for what others will think. Well, if your strong enough to hide your beliefs, I can assure you that you are strong enough to follow them. I hope that if you are reading this, and you have something you have always wanted to do, you go off and do it. I hope that you don’t put it off another day, because even if it is dropping out of college for a semester and flying out to the middle of nowhere to find your true self, you shouldn’t continue to put it off because of your fears. Convince yourself that these experiences will change you and that you will become a better person, because only then will you have the courage. I know that sometimes it is really difficult and that sometimes we simply don’t know what will happen, but rest assured, it will be better than knowing what happens. You have the opportunity, and you have the ability to do everything you have ever wanted. Believe in yourself for the sake of a better world, because if we all didn’t tremble and give excuses for why we aren’t living, we would have a better world. It’s the nay sayers and those who don’t have the passion because they fear how others will look at them that make this world slightly more difficult to live in. I urge you very strongly to change the way you live so that you are satisfied with it, because once you do, you won’t be thanking me, you will be telling everyone else to change their way of life too.

So what is 1964? It is the year he stopped saying thank you for his morning cup of tea. It is the year in which she could have changed her life but didn’t. It is a moment in the movie Cemetery Junction, where the wife of a business man recalls how she didn’t take her chance in life, and didn’t live it, for the desire of having security. She made the right choice in wanting security, but the wrong choice in understanding what security was. The beauty of the movie is that she knew and acknowledged her error. She did not know how she lost it all so quickly, but she knew that her daughter wouldn’t go by the same path. It is a beautiful moment in the movie when she frees herself and leaves everything behind for a life of uncertainty and a life she has always wanted to live. So there’s a lot of significance to 1964, because it was the year he didn’t even notice his wife anymore. I hope that we will all seek and go towards any means necessary to find what we truly care for, because only then will we be successful in life. There’s a saying I think I watched recently that says, money doesn’t bring you happiness, but happiness and creativity does bring you money. People don’t find it amusing for those who walked the path that everyone thought they’d walk, they love those who discover a new path, and make something of it, because that is the most impressive and most successful feeling you will ever get.

So, my life, quick update, I am currently on my plane flying in Business Class to Australia, thank god I got to sleep a good 8 hours in their truly comfortable beds, and am ready to get off in Sydney, fly myself to Melbourne, and get ready for an experience of a life time. I must say this experience was truly wonderful, and I must applaud them because it seems in Business they appreciate blueberry as much as I do. Lots of love, and an exciting future ahead,

UPDATE: Alright cool so I made it alive to Melbourne and I’m at the Cooklin residence now =] and we had a wonderful walk around Melbourne and a fantastic dinner including dinner and amazing cheese, and wine.

Take care,
Daniel.