True Blood and Urgency

Michele and I have decided to have a week off.

Which, as you will know if you are a business owner, means you intend to relax but really just end up doing pockets of work in between snatches of non-work: TV watching, book reading and other activities that you think constitute ‘getting away from it all’. But we’re trying – and to that end we decided we’d watch Season 2 of True Blood, since we quite enjoyed Series 1 last year.

First off, I need to warn you that Season 2 is a debacle. It’s the first time I’ve seen a show jump the shark so early – normally you need to get to season 5 or 6 before that happens. Or perhaps it’s the books’ fault? Whatever. Sadly True Blood is a ridiculous bore, although I’m reliably informed that Eric is worth watching…

But all was not lost. As I was sitting there watching – painfully aware of my life dissipating minute-by-slow-minute – I started to ponder the lore of the show’s main characters. It got me thinking – what would I do with my life if I had thousands of years still ahead of me…?

Would I learn another language, learn a musical instrument, learn to sing, go back to university, read hundreds of books, get ripped, travel the world, become an expert, end poverty, practice kindness, get awesome, and so much more? Damn right I would. After all, who wouldn’t?

Sadly I can’t do any of those things though – because I don’t have time. No, with so little time available, it’s much easier just to sit and do very little. To watch the opportunities of life pass by. To ponder what might have been. Ants marching.

Isn’t it strange that the urgency of a short life makes us so complacent.

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.
Henry David Thoreau

Time to stop observing. It’s time to live a life of urgency.