Heed The Dead

by Skald

ìWhat if I canít find a job?î
ìWhat if the money runs out and I canít get home?î
ìWhat if I starve?î
ìWhat if Iím robbed/beaten/killed?î
ìWhat if I I hate it... and am a pathetic failure... and come crawling home to humiliation?î

Such are the doubts that keep us enslaved. Iíve been there. For years I yearned for freedom..... the giddy rush of boarding a plane.... an adventure.... someplace foreign.... the unknown.

And for years I was paralyzed by idiotic doubts. Thankfully, I overcame them. Now, many years later,... I see them for what they were-- phantoms, ghosts, ìmind-forged manaclesî. And so with absolute and unshaking confidence I can give would-be wanderers the following advice: Just Go. Forget the fears. Forget the parents. Forget the whining boyfriend. Forget the goddam ìcareerî. Forget the worries about money (because a trip you can afford isnít worth taking). Forget it all and just go.

ìEvery man [and woman] is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and most critical hour,î so wrote Thoreau and I wholeheartedly agree. What scares me most is to reach the end of my life never having pursued my dreams. Most people toil in semi-slavery until they are 65+.... forever dreaming of that day when they will retire and be free. By then, of course, they are so dulled by routine and tedium--- so fat and tired from decades of lethargy-- that they have no clue what to do with themselves. A few of the ìadventurousî ones book a package tour of Europe. The rest fart their remaining years away on the golf course and at the Senior Center.

What a tragedy. All those decades of goddawful boredom for THAT? THAT is the big reward?

Better to try and fail. Better to live now. But donít settle for some half-hearted, bloodless failure. Dare to fail with audacity. Quit that fucking job right now. Book that ticket right now.... and if you donít have the money- start that savings account right now. Pack your bags,.... sell, trash, burn your useless shit.......This is your life. Live it.

Get on Daveís ESL Cafe right now...... or one of the many Hoboteach links on the sidebar. Choose a job from a job board and fire off a resume TODAY.

In years of social work experience, working with dying AIDS patients and dying cancer patients, I never... NEVER... had one tell me, ìI wish I would have played it safeî. Always.... and I do mean always.. their regrets were of risks not taken, dreams not pursued, words not spoken.

Heed the advice of the regretful dead: Just go.