One of the many admonitions I learned from the movie “The Bucket List” is to find joy in my life and to bring joy to others. Now, a song that’s playing recently in the airwaves tells me to prioritize these in my life, like anytime I could be dying. Kris Allen ’s cover of the song “Live Like We’re Dying” tells me to live life like the song title. Apart from the fact that the song is catchy, it’s message has wide appeal because it does not situate the listener on a certain life event or situation and just gives general suggestions on how to live like dying, thus open to interpretation and personalization by all.
In Tim McGraw’s song in comparison, the lyrics talks about someone who is in early forties looking at x-rays. Not all listeners are in that stage of life. The song gives an idea of how to live like dying: (1) go skydiving, rocky mountain climbing, watching eagle fly, bull riding, and fishing; (2) love deeper, (3) give forgiveness he’d been denying, (4) become more compassionate (spoke sweeter), (5) become a better husband and/or friend, (6) read the good Book, and (7) take a good long hard look at what he’d do if he could do it all again. These concrete examples are a little too common. The song basically suggests thinking like tomorrow is the end. I’d say maybe we can’t do much if we seriously imagine tomorrow is our last day.
I think the better mindset is to think that life is fragile and that anytime we can die, and not to think we will be dying tomorrow or in a month’s time literally. At least with that mindset, we are not forced to surrender and lose hope, with destructive results. I like to think that my probability of dying is always at 50% at below 100 years old. This is higher than the actual probability of dying of 0.138% within a year for 27 years old, for example.
Its not too late to live like were dying as counselled by this song, by: (1) appreciating the value of everything/everyone by imagining a situation when they’re gone, (2) appreciating that value today, (3) living life like how we wished it, and (4) casting our fears. Concerns that I think I should allot more of my resources are my loved ones, ambition, passions, aesthetics, curiosity, creativity, audacity, sagacity, authenticity, things that makes me a unique person, etc. Appreciation also calls for more prudence and judicious use of my resources: time, youth, opportunity, money, health, skill sets, energy, etc. Here is that song courtesy of Youtube:
Here is the lyrics of this song:
Oh, yeah yeah
[1]
Sometimes we fall down and can’t get back up
We’re hiding behind skin that’s too tough
How come we don’t say I love you enough
Till it’s too late, it’s not too late
[2]
Our hearts are hungry for a food that won’t come
And we could make a feast from these crumbs
And we’re all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you,
What would you wish you would’ve done
[Chorus 1]
Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we’ve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin’ it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’
Gotta live like were dying
[Chorus 2]
We only got 86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say,
Gotta live like we’re dying
[3]
And if you plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbye
Should be so careful who we left out of our lives
When we long for absolution, there’ll be no one on the line
[Chorus 1&2]
Like we’re dying oh – like we’re dying [x2]
[Chorus 2]
Yeah, mmm.
[4]
You never know a good thing till it’s gone
You never see a crash till it’s head on
Whoever think of right when we’re dead wrong,
You never know a good thing till it’s gone
Tahoŋ kadlagan чakoh (I am a man of the forest).
