Learn to Waltz in Three Easy Steps

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever received came from a Russell Brand's show on BBC Radio 2 (the show's now sadly off the air, but you can locate archives with a quick google search if you're interested). Going off on one of the show's common tangents, Brand made a comment about life which resonated deeply with me:

"As soon as [an opportunity for] something good occurs to you, that is an obligation to do it, 'cause otherwise you're not in tune with higher things in the universe."

There, condensed into a single sentence, was a perfect summation of my own views on morality, and I've integrated that outlook into my life as much as possible in the past year or so.

It was this line of reasoning that led me to sign up to give blood last Friday. I just turned seventeen a few weeks ago, and I met all the necessary requirements for donors, so I knew I had the opportunity to do something good (potentially even life-saving). At that point, there was no longer any question in my mind of whether or not I would be giving blood; as soon as the world had presented me with that opportunity to do something good, I did not have the moral option to decline. Nobody else could give blood for me, and regardless of how many other people did or did not donate they still didn’t face the same specific choice that I did to be a force for good in the universe—their obligations were unique to them, as were mine to me.

On the day of the drive, I went down to the back gym and signed in. I was fifteen minutes late, having forgotten about my 8:00 time slot in the heat of Psych (perhaps having Freudianly repressed my appointment to have a pint of blood removed from my body), but things went smoothly as I nervously read through the informative packet and waited to answer a personal history questionnaire. Questions answered and eligibility confirmed, I lay down on the cot while a nurse prepared my arm—suddenly, I remembered my fear of needles (really just a subset of my more general fear of pain), and rather than experience the whole ordeal firsthand I opted to take out my mp3 player and remove myself from the world for the next ten minutes. One hour later, I was back in class with a bandage on my arm and sticker on my shirt.

The process wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as I’d imagined it would be, so that was a relief. Moreover, I returned home Friday secure in the knowledge that I’d been presented with a chance to act as a positive force in the universe, and I had lived up to my own moral obligation—because in my opinion, the choice to save a life is no choice at all.

The End of the Tracks (where the fountains fly into your eyes)

When trying to come up with five set things I want to have possessed/accomplished by the end of my life, I had a really hard time thinking of precise goals, most likely because I don’t have many of those yet. I mean, I’ve got goals for my next few years or so, but I’ve never been a bucket list kind of person—I’ve always thought of my future in much vaguer terms than that. So, while I can’t honestly name five specific things I want to possess or have experienced when it’s time for me to shuffle off this mortal coil, I have been able to narrow my goals down to five concrete categories:

-Love/Family:

I think it’d be kinda cool to fall in love at least once, and before I die I hope I’ll have the opportunity to pass on some of my bad habits to my children, only to have my parents laugh at me when my own progeny won’t listen to a damn word I say.

-Material Possessions:

However little they may matter in the long run, I’d like the opportunity to try a few of the finer things in life—though I understand academically that all things are transient, I still think it would be fun to own, say, a medieval castle (retrofitted for modern living, of course), complete with secret passages and jester. Failing that, maybe a custom tailored suit—I’m not picky. They say you can’t take it with you? I’m taking it with me.

-Service:

I have been particularly fortunate thus far in life, and it would be selfish of me not to try and repay the world that’s treated me so kind. Whether it’s through a career saving lives in medicine or just heavy philanthropy, I plan to help somehow; I believe I have been given the capabilities necessary to make some people’s lives better, and that in itself is an obligation—because otherwise I’d just be a jerk.

-Accomplishment:

It would be dishonest for me to say this wasn’t one of my bigger hang-ups, life-wise. I still haven’t decided what I plan to actually do with my life, but I can’t die until I’ve done something. Not something dumb like “worked loyally for X company for fifty years” or “was a U.S. Senator”—something important, or at very least something that’ll affect a lot of people positively, even if that just means bringing a little more light into their days, maybe through something like music. I don’t need to live forever, but being recognized as having made a contribution to society somehow would go a long way towards making me feel like my life’s meant something.

-Cool Stuff:

These are all the rest of the things that’ll go into making life worthwhile for my next however-many years until I finally croak, and they generally range from “self-enrichment” to simply “fun”. I definitely want to spend time traveling and see the world, I want to learn at least one more language, if at all possible I want to fly with a jetpack, learn a martial art, and stop a mugging. I want to do enough fun and fulfilling stuff during my life that, when I’m finished, I won’t need reincarnation to tie up my loose ends.

Out of all of these amorphous goal-categories, only those of “service” and “accomplishment” could really be called “valuable to humanity”. Service is valuable insofar as it helps individuals, and I hope that, whatever I accomplish in life, it’ll mean something to humanity. I don’t know if I’ve answered the question at all well, but at this point that’s the best I can do—after all, I haven’t really decided on what I plan to do with my life yet. With any luck, though, I’ve got a lot more time ahead of me with which to decide on more specific goals. Ultimately, I guess my overriding ambition is just to be able to look back on it all at the end of my life, and smile.

--Wistfully,

SG