[jct us101]

We, as people, are not perfect in any way or form imaginable.

Sometimes it takes something incredibly large or incredibly important in your life to realize what it is that really matters. Most of the time, people attempt to burrow their heads into things such as the internet, where they can pretend to not be who they are, living under screen names that they could imagine themselves being as alter egos. We develop disorders, some of which are caused only by tricks caused by our mind...and others from our past experiences that we are trying to escape. But most of all, we do try to escape.

Sometimes it takes something large to give you a different outlook on things -- maybe someone's death, or a near death, to let you realize that there is such preciousness to life that it can't be wasted. We need to live our lives to the fullest extent of what makes us happy. The only person who can stop us is ourselves...and I think that many people forget that. It can also take something very small, such as a touching episode of a funny show...or a sad moment of a heartfelt one...to help you realize that life is too precious to not live it how it should be lived. With vigor, ambition, and no fear.

It's easy for us to give explanations, or excuses to why we don't. There are so many ways that we can completely disguise who we are to cover up our shame...or our hope. That's not needed though...forgiveness is something that we all were created with for a reason, along with the many other emotions that have built in to us.

For everyone reading this, I want to you to take a second and look back at your life, and realize that some of the things that you really think matter - they don't matter at all. Please don't try to give any excuses for your past mistakes...and have no regrets, but only look towards the future with this mixed message of hope and ambition in mind...and make your own assessment of how to feel from it. Just remember something, no matter how much we want to hide in ourselves and justify not doing what makes our hearts and our souls happy, that we don't have to. We can make every single day a new chance at becoming who we've always wanted to, and if we fail then we can try again the next.

I hope that this message reminds you to cherish every moment, because it will never come again.

[Mike Cash]

Most of the time, people attempt to burrow their heads into things such as the internet, where they can pretend to not be who they are, living under screen names that they could imagine themselves being as alter egos

The Gospel According to Saint Luke 4:23 comes to mind here.....

You know, there are those of us who post under our real names. Why not give it a try sometime?　Hell....you even copy-paste posted this spiel under different names in different places.

[MRRiley]

We, as people, are not perfect in any way or form imaginable.

Sometimes it takes something incredibly large or incredibly important in your life to realize what it is that really matters. Most of the time, people attempt to burrow their heads into things such as the internet, where they can pretend to not be who they are, living under screen names that they could imagine themselves being as alter egos. We develop disorders, some of which are caused only by tricks caused by our mind...and others from our past experiences that we are trying to escape. But most of all, we do try to escape.

Sometimes it takes something large to give you a different outlook on things -- maybe someone's death, or a near death, to let you realize that there is such preciousness to life that it can't be wasted. We need to live our lives to the fullest extent of what makes us happy. The only person who can stop us is ourselves...and I think that many people forget that. It can also take something very small, such as a touching episode of a funny show...or a sad moment of a heartfelt one...to help you realize that life is too precious to not live it how it should be lived. With vigor, ambition, and no fear.

It's easy for us to give explanations, or excuses to why we don't. There are so many ways that we can completely disguise who we are to cover up our shame...or our hope. That's not needed though...forgiveness is something that we all were created with for a reason, along with the many other emotions that have built in to us.

For everyone reading this, I want to you to take a second and look back at your life, and realize that some of the things that you really think matter - they don't matter at all. Please don't try to give any excuses for your past mistakes...and have no regrets, but only look towards the future with this mixed message of hope and ambition in mind...and make your own assessment of how to feel from it. Just remember something, no matter how much we want to hide in ourselves and justify not doing what makes our hearts and our souls happy, that we don't have to. We can make every single day a new chance at becoming who we've always wanted to, and if we fail then we can try again the next.

I hope that this message reminds you to cherish every moment, because it will never come again.

This post is so full of contradictions that I don't even know where to start...

Mike (yes this is my real name)

[Mike Cash]

This post is so full of contradictions that I don't even know where to start...

The link in my reply would be a good place if you're the sort who enjoys a good belly laugh.

[J.Scott]

The link in my reply would be a good place if you're the sort who enjoys a good belly laugh.

I agree, some of the replies there are entertaining.

(My real name is J. Scott, too. )

[J.Scott]

… how very ‘Zen’ of you Cody.

I am highly suspicious that this flowery prose has been borrowed from someone else.
This is not your usual style of writing.

I 'Googled' a few select lines and keep getting hits from various blogs and quotes from Spiderman Comics.

It's all a bunch of hooey-blooey gibberish anyways; you sure you want to take credit for its creation?

[Parallax]

I hope that this message reminds you to cherish every moment, because it will never come again.

It reminds me just how young and immature you are.

Jim

It reminds me just how young and immature you are.

Jim

Come on guys. Give him a little break.

[Adam]

It reminds me just how young and immature you are.

Jim

Yes, that wasn't necessary.

Yes, that wasn't necessary.

No, but it is true.

[dylansalt]

I prefer this;

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

Regards

Dylan

[dylansalt]

and more so this is what really started me to re assess my life many years ago;

THE STATION

By Robert J. Hastings

TUCKED AWAY in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision in which we see ourselves on a long journey that spans an entire continent. We're traveling by train and, from the windows, we drink in the passing scenes of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at crossings, of cattle grazing in distant pastures, of smoke pouring from power plants, of row upon row upon row of cotton and corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of city skylines and village halls.

But uppermost in our conscious minds is our final destination--for at a certain hour and on a given day, our train will finally pull into the Station with bells ringing, flags waving, and bands playing. And once that day comes, so many wonderful dreams will come true. So restlessly, we pace the aisles and count the miles, peering ahead, waiting, waiting, waiting for the Station.

"Yes, when we reach the Station, that will be it!" we promise ourselves. "When we're eighteen. . . win that promotion. . . put the last kid through college. . . buy that 450SL Mercedes-Benz. . . have a nest egg for retirement!"
From that day on we will all live happily ever after.

Sooner or later, however, we must realize there is no Station in this life, no one earthly place to arrive at once and for all. The journey is the joy. The Station is an illusion--it constantly outdistances us. Yesterday's a memory, tomorrow's a dream. Yesterday belongs to a history, tomorrow belongs to God. Yesterday's a fading sunset, tomorrow's a faint sunrise. Only today is there light enough to love and live.

So, gently close the door on yesterday and throw the key away. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad, but rather the regret over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who would rob us of today.
"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, swim more rivers, climb more mountains, kiss more babies, count more stars. Laugh more and cry less. Go barefoot oftener. Eat more ice cream. Ride more merry-go-rounds. Watch more sunsets. Life must be lived as we go along. The Station will come soon enough.

Regards

Dylan

[Parallax]

Yes, that wasn't necessary.

Perhaps not, but it was not meant as an insult, either. Being young and immature is not a character flaw and is nothing anybody has any control over. Writings like that usually come from, and are admired by, young, wide eyed, idealists for whom the realities of life have not yet set in.

[Ratmagiclady]

Ah, give the kid a break, it's just a bunch of platitudes anyway, there's not too much new under the Sun when it comes to that sort of thing.

"Real names" don't really count for much on the Internet: it's not like anyone's checking ID's or as though it wouldn't be just as easy to take something 'real sounding' out of the phone book. Nor is it necessarily wise to put your own legal name out there for various reasons. May as well try and be interesting. (If *everybody* used "real names" it *would* read like a phone book, and it wouldn't stop people from creating screen personae, whether they want to or not. ) It's a lot easier to tell people apart this way.

The Internet has a great way of getting people to *talk* on levels we don't usually in person. Of course, this has a troubling way of polarizing people down lines of *opinion,* to the point where different 'sides' aren't even operating with the same 'facts' (Though at least things get examined, this way,)

Anyhow, Jct, also remember 'No Man Is An Island.' Too often an underlying message of the 'motivational business seminar' talk is that, 'If the individual can accomplish anything, then those who do not must lack the will or have some other character flaw, so I'm not responsible for my effects on others or the shape of the systems we build.'

Ends never really come, all there are ...is means.

[Mike Cash]

"Real names" don't really count for much on the Internet: it's not like anyone's checking ID's or as though it wouldn't be just as easy to take something 'real sounding' out of the phone book. Nor is it necessarily wise to put your own legal name out there for various reasons. May as well try and be interesting. (If *everybody* used "real names" it *would* read like a phone book, and it wouldn't stop people from creating screen personae, whether they want to or not. ) It's a lot easier to tell people apart this way.

But it is deliciously funny when a guy we now know by "Cody", "Mike Woods", "jct us101" and "SF Lights" makes a post bemoaning the use of netnyms.