Reader be forewarned, this blog is not the usual glorified 'What I did Today' type of blog. This is just raw thinking that I've been doing that I for some reason wanted to see put into words. In short I'm about to ramble and if you bore easily READ NO FURTHER just click on the incredibly entertaining link at the top of your screen.
Being at a point in my life where so much is changing and yet in the scheme of things is staying pretty much the same I've been contemplating the great mystery of life lately. In my mind I've managed to simplify the way life plays out into four acts.
Act I: Childhood (0-20 years old)
I'm aware that, if as your eyes grazed this title, you realized you ARE 0-20 you most likely reacted with a scoff and a glib remark about how you are not a kid anymore and what could you possibly have in common with a 5 year old and that I must be a complete moron for making the association. But I really do think this is an accurate description. For the majority of our first 20 years of life we spend our time absorbing as much information about the world as we can. From birth where we are simply making heads or tails of our senses and the existance of a world infinitely larger than we thought existed before birth, to learning to speak and move and laugh and play, to entering elementary school to learn basic academics, we spend a great majority of this time just figuring out what exactly the world is anyway. Think about how even with all of our differences that make us unique you can still see the core similarities of people of the same approximate age. This is what people call innocence in children. This process continues into high school, where we struggle to discover and make sense of the world of relationships, love, lust, heart break, sex, drugs, alcohol, deceit, trust, success, and failure. People of this age often refer to the events of this exploration as drama. For many people this time of exploration settles down somewhat for college as they realize they need to focus to make it to their dream job. However there are always the college party animals, thus the reason for extending this stage to 20, as some people need to further still explore how far they can take their bodies, find out what doing a keg stand feels like, or know whether a Chaser pill really works. Now granted some people take this into their twenties further, but in the majority of people the wildness factor begins to die down at this point.
Act II: Adulthood (20-40 years old)
At this point, focus begins to shift from just learning about life to actually going out and living it. It is a blend of the first and third acts where you find questions you haven't answered yet and find you still have enough curiosity to explore the answers. It is also generally in this stage where marriages and families are created. Nothing cries adult responsibility like a baby! It is somewhere in this stage where you will make the transition to adulthood and realize that it's probably no longer appropriate for you to have your buds over for a video game tournament, and that while yes it would be interesting to be worrying about who Christina is dating now, you have a rent payment due next week that means the difference between eviction and another month in your place. There is still substantial change going on in your life until you reach the next stage.
Act III: Middle-Aged (40-60)
By this phase of your life, things begin to slow down quite a bit. You've most likely settled into the career you will retire from and your day to day life will play out with the routine you've developed. While you may still have your curiosities at this point you've learned enough to whet your appetite. You become the teacher to those in the first stage, lending what knowledge and experience you can to satiate their curiosity. Your focus lands on your children if you have them and the number of new experiences you enjoy grows more limited.
Act IV: Seinor Aged (60-80)
In this act comes retirement, and eventually the end of the line. At this point, your curiosity may return, or it may not. You will have your lifetime of experiences and knowledge to either satisfy you or leave you wanting. Your time will either become your greatest friend or your worst enemy. By this time you will have a better idea (I hope) of what life is and whether you met your own standards. And then comes your finale, your dues ex machina, your closing scene...
Obviously, life cannot be cut so dryly into neat chunks and there are, as with all things, exceptions. But by my own definition, I am roughly 1/4 of the way through my life already and how fast that has gone is mind boggling.
The point here is this: Life IS short! While this may be the most brutally beaten of dead horses, it does take some thought to realize how short. So however you know me, whether you are my friend, my family, or someone whom I have never had the pleasure of meeting, what I ask of you is this: Bear no grudges, learn all that you can, squeeze out every drop and hold onto every inch of everyday as best you can!
Because life isn't cut and dried, and you can't know for certain when it
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