Wasted Youth
Well, this is the last posting for Meat Loaf Appreciation Week. I want to thank everyone for the exhilirating ride, and leave you with one final thought from the rockin' fat goofball himself:
A wasted youth is better by far
Than a wise and productive old age.
Do I agree with this bold statement? Hard to say. A part of me wants to live all out, like some reckless dirt bike rider soaring off a cliff, quiting his job (see Captain Geoff's blog) but there's always that cautious part that kicks in, saying no, maybe you'll hurt your back and live in excruciating pain for the next fifty years. I think everyone's pulled two ways by this quandry, and it never really gets fully resolved. Last May I left my job to travel Europe and North America; now I am back working at the same job, to pay for electricity and a gas range stove. The other day I made a pact with the guy I work with: if we're both still working at the clinic in five years we'll kill each other in a ferocious, working-hours gun battle.
The good news to this wasted youth quandry is the fact that you'll eventually end up dead either way, and that pretty much solves any personal problem you'd care to mention.
I'm not a big fan of Saturdays.
Blogagaard Loves to Ponder
About Me
- David Oppegaard
- St. Paul, Minnesota
- I am the author of And the Hills Opened Up, The Suicide Collectors, and Wormwood, Nevada.
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4 comments:
Today, my hair dresser told me that my hair was thinning.
If this is true, can I still consider myself to be part of the "youth"?
Perhaps we're already entering our days of productive old age. I hope so, that it's productive.
eirka
Your post brings to mind a concept called 'opportunity cost' - i think it is an economics concept - but i have twisted it to mean 'if you are doing something, you cant be doing something else. that means effectively you are actually paying to do what you are doing.' sometimes it brings priorities to perspective, somethings are good, but then i wouldnt pay to do them. ofcourse it is a bit more complicated than that - i mean you then bring time scales in picture as well - like somethings take 10 days and other 10 months and so on...
have i managed to make any sense?
Erika, your hair is fine. Maybe your hair dressers brain was thinning.
Neha, I did take one econ class my Freshman year in college. I remember the phrase oppurtunity cost, but that's about it. It's true; every choice you make every day means you can't do something else; sometimes I wish I could split into a bunch of people and then reassemble later. One Dave could go excercise, one Dave could watch TV, one Dave could read all the classics, one Dave could read all the modern lit journals, and one Dave could play video games. That would be sweet.
Well, I know that one thing is true. If you don't try to get yourself to where you want to be, no one is gonna do it for you.
I don't think you have to live "dangerously" to live a full and exciting life.
Just make a goal and head to it, then make another one and keep it up until you succeed or you're dead.
And if you need a good adrenaline rush, I don't necessarily recommend quitting your job to get it.
But that's just me. I used to live with an alcoholic, though, so I'm much more cautious than the party girls.
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