What is life?
Seeing as I had no idea whatsoever of who I was before I got sober from alcohol two and a half years ago, by the time I began to truly discover myself it was too late – my grandmother (on my father’s side) passed away the day before my birthday in 2019. In September of 2023 my grandmother (on my mother’s side) was diagnosed with Stage II pancreatic cancer, and at the time of writing this statement it has metastasized and spread to her liver – leaving her with a minimal statistical-probabilistic percentage of surviving twelve months, even with modern medical treatments. Who I am now is unrecognizable compared with the “Me” experiencing a similar tragedy not too many years ago, and who I am now realizes the true meaning of life:
Life is the opportunity to partake in anything...
What is life?
Seeing as I had no idea whatsoever of who I was before I got sober from alcohol two and a half years ago, by the time I began to truly discover myself it was too late – my grandmother (on my father’s side) passed away the day before my birthday in 2019. In September of 2023 my grandmother (on my mother’s side) was diagnosed with Stage II pancreatic cancer, and at the time of writing this statement it has metastasized and spread to her liver – leaving her with a minimal statistical-probabilistic percentage of surviving twelve months, even with modern medical treatments. Who I am now is unrecognizable compared with the “Me” experiencing a similar tragedy not too many years ago, and who I am now realizes the true meaning of life:
Life is the opportunity to partake in anything and everything you desire to the benefit, and/or detriment, of yourself, and subsequently, society as well.
This opportunity is a fine equilibrium in the existing, and ever-increasing, entropy in the Universe. A balancing act - in so many myriad ways from the top down and bottom up – in which I would need to branch off and divulge my understanding of the contradictions occurring between the two titanic theories of Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity. This, yet still, wouldn’t even come close to the detail that goes into every moment’s choices involved in the relativistic (to electrons and particle interactions, that is) macrocosm of human day-to-day life. Yet, this is where life resides – in the decisions each and every one of us makes in the opportunities presented before us and taken.
Everywhere you look, people will forgo this and that so that they may be comfortable. There is nothing wrong with rest, though we have entered a different realm entirely when rest, relaxation, and comfort become the teleological undercarriage of one’s life. We can see in our own lives, as well as in the lives of others, a circumstance where complacency moves in and, just like weeds take over a garden if left untended, it takes over people’s lives every day. The rest and
relaxation of who and from what exactly, though? This all has to do with adversity and people viewing any adversity as bad, but this simply is not true. Adversity – more specifically, and importantly, overcoming adversity or adverse situations – gives meaning to people’s lives! Individuals who aren’t averse to adversity but are instead ready and willing to put forth the effort everyday to get out of bed and fight to overcome adversity in myriad ways in the name of progress for the sake of future generations; these are the people who makes waves, rippling out across all the societies of the world.
One of my biggest inspirations has come from the experiences gained through sitting to read and analyze Plato’s recounting of all the dialogues of Socrates – who, aside from the mention of him in the court records, may not even have existed! – as he is a direct demonstration of being able to create waves of change throughout one’s society. Lasting change that (paradoxically or oxymoronically) will endure for not just days, weeks, months, or years; nor just decades or centuries, but for millennia upon millennia. Socrates was willing to talk to anyone about anything, he used logic and reason to guide the participating parties from the start through to the end, and he stood up for what he believed in till the very end – even though one could argue (by demonstrating the last three Socratic dialogues written by Plato) this was to his detriment. He never wrote anything down – he didn’t do anything – and yet he changed the world. Socrates had a reason.
I thought I had a reason once but, in all honesty, it was simply a half-baked vague idea drenched in vanity and intertwined with the chip on my shoulder which I hadn’t a clue about yet. Now, I would postulate, is a starkly different circumstance. Just as you see the travesties round every corner, wrought with the absence of logic, I am standing there as well – ready to stand up for what we believe in and take action to make a positive impact. Art, and more specifically, Theatre have always been perfectly and uniquely positioned to have been a mirror to hold up to reflect society back upon itself.
This is what life means to me. We have the opportunity to collaborate with others and use the divine art of Theatre to challenge people’s adversity filled, or adversity abhorrent, circumstances so that we may all live in harmony far into the future generations of humanity.