I think back on everything I wanted to achieve before riding those last rhythms of childhood into my thirties, the experiences I wanted to collect like charms on a bracelet, the places I wanted to visit, the bragging I’d be able to do. Things didn’t work out the way I had planned, but that’s another story.
I have a friend who has racked up trips to the Pyramids, the Great Wall, the Spanish Steps; he’s shot the rapids through a canyon so deep only time could have carved it.
He says things like:
I saw Mona Lisa hanging in the Louvre on a wet December afternoon. It’s not as big as you think-rather small really.
And then he says ✓
Or he says:
In Bulgaria, I watched as divers plunged into an icy river to recover crucifixes cast by priests in ceremonies commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ.
Again, he says ✓
Or he says:
I spent a day paragliding Cuzco and the Sacred Valley of the Incas, snorkeled in Cozumel, ran with the bulls in Pamplona, had the most amazing meal of spaghettini and mussels in white wine in a small café in Milan.
Of course, he says: ✓ ✓ ✓ and ✓
What does it mean to say such things? Has life really become a To-Do list?
Will there be a ✓ for Death?
Here are my beliefs
1. The person really wanted to do those things and so when he did he decided to share his experiences out of sheer happiness
2.The person always wanted to do those things but when he did, he didn't feel satisfied like he'd hope to, so in order to fill up that empty void inside of him, he decided to try and boast about his experiences (unconsciously); so that he could -in some way- feel accomplished. However such activities might never bring him peace as they are only temporary. What he really needs is to feel love, joy and maybe even sadness but not because of materialistic experiences but because of the little things in life that he might have missed out on while completing his 'to do list'.
And death can never be experienced(at least not entirely)
Or we can fall into experience as we find it, like dominoes leading from one to the other dominoes till the end. Which is peaceful and quiet.
Never had a list except for groceries.