live in it.
I’m not telling you to make the world, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass thru it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment. And if you should ask me why you should bother to do that, I would tell you that the grave’s a fine and private place, but none I think there do embrace. Nor do they sing there, or write, or argue, or see the tidal bore on the amazon, or touch their children. And that’s what there is to do and get it while you can and good luck at it.
-Joan Didion (Commencement Address at University of California, Riverside, California ,1975)
While reading the book I went back to this message several times and then found it again here. This is great wisdom for my children, but perhaps a better message for my 58 year old self. Time to live the gift we’ve been given, and avoid the excuses that “necessary progress” may afford us to dodge living in the world, not around it. Thank you Joan.
The only thought I would add is that I don’t believe we are living in the world for ourselves alone. I’m willing to bet that if we all look back at the moments in our lives when we felt the greatest pleasure, we would be looking at the moments when we were helping others.
Careful, careful…how much of a beating can one take when one lives in the world? living authentically can be tough.
Living “contented” might be a little numbing but it is certainly easier.
I was moved by what Dr. Maskalyk had to say in an interview this July on public radio about the difficulty of returning home after his first hand experience of poverty and oppression in Sudan. I had a similar experience after returning from living in Palestine and in Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Is there a place where people who have had this kind of experience can connect with each other? I would love to find others in Minnesota who have this experience in common with me.
Dear Kathy,
I agree with you and Dr. Maskalyk’s statement regarding the difficulty in returning home after a trip in a Third World Country. Unless you personally experience these changes it is virtually impossible to empathize with them. I tell myself that I was blessed in having being able to visit Ghana and being in contact with so many beautiful souls. (even if suffering and dying for reasons that are foreign our world)
There is something that tugs at your heart and wants you to return to such a place.
I live in Reno, Nevada, far from you, but maybe we can create something that can bring us together. What do you suggest?
This quote speaks loudly to my impending midlife crisis…
Time to explore some options. I’ve never been a risk-taker but now might be a good time.
Alexia, I agree living “contented” is easier. For the most part, I’ve just been trying to keep from losing ground, never mind making any progress.
I think many people minimize the daily contributions they make, believing what they do is mundane in comparison to working in Sudan. But every little bit helps, no?