No one wants to live more than one who has had a brush with death; one who has come to the edge of suffering, body beaten and broken, convulsing in pain, at the edge between life and death, but came back. It’s being on the brink of life and death—the almost dying, but not. Being brought all the way down to the ground, but getting back up. It gives you that that zeal to live.
Life humbles you.
It’s fleeting and can be gone in just a second. A moment too late and you’re gone, but given a second chance in the knick of time gives you insight into its value. Take life seriously, but also, don’t. Take life as it comes, but also, go after what you want. That mix will keep you proud of your accomplishments, but will also humble you through its humiliations.
“It’s being on the brink of life and death—the almost dying, but not.”
L.M. McBean
That’s life.
It lets you know you’re in its world and subject to its rules. Some people seem to master the game and some are beaten bloody over and over again. Wealth and power give some control, until it suddenly doesn’t, and a loved one develops a rare disease that all the money in the world can’t cure. Poverty seems a curse that forces you to live long enough to see those you love suffer from lack with seemingly no hope of better coming.
“An easy life doesn’t inspire the realisation of the gift of life, and those who realise it often have no regrets.”
L.M. McBean
Whether it’s the wealthy whose money can’t buy life, or the destitute whose plight don’t tempt death to intervene, both, once faced with life and death, know how precious life is. The rich suddenly realise how futile the pursuit of wealth is when it cannot extend the lifespan of one desperate to live, and the poor realise that being alive with nothing is better than confronting death, realising the value of life, and losing still. All are dust, weak or strong, rich or poor.
Life is being indifferent to death, but having a brush with it disabuse you of your indifference. No longer neutral about living, but being resolute with the will to live. It makes you live everyday like it’s your last, leaving not one drop of life unspent when it’s your time to go. It’s the satisfaction in knowing that your life was spent fully trying and failing, rising and falling and rising again, winning and losing and licking your wounds, starting over again and looking for your truth.
An easy life doesn’t inspire the realisation of the gift of life, and those who realise it often have no regrets.
Written by L.M. McBean
LariMac 