When I finally decided that I was sure I wanted to do pre-med I was uncomfortable with the fact that nine more years of school lay ahead of me. I knew it was “worth it,” but the idea was still very uncomfortable for me. My thoughts were along the lines of, why do I have to wait nine years to have a life? Why do I have to wait nine years before I do anything cool with my life? But then God, in the subtlest way possible reminded me of carpe diem.
Carpe diem means “seize the day” and people that live in this mindset often follow a philosophy that says do whatever you want and whatever feels good to you because you just might die tomorrow and you may as well live without regrets. I like the thought of living without regrets, I have a few significant regrets already, but I certainly wouldn’t mind not taking on any new ones. But then again doing what felt good has also been the source of my deepest regrets, so something has to change
Many who follow carpe diem would say that nothing matters but our own pleasure. I say carpe diem because I feel that everything matters. I can’t wait one day to settle an argument because the next day might not come for me, or for the other person. I can’t wait one day to tell people I love them because the next day they might all be gone. I can’t wait one day to show someone that they are truly valued because the next day they might be gone because no one ever showed them how much they were worth. Waiting until med school is over to “start my life” is not an option because I could die before I ever get there in which case my life would be the story of a man who had good intentions and nothing more because he never had the chance to live them out. All of this to say, my life has to matter now, because tomorrow is not a promise.
There’s my logic, now for my actions.
1. I intend to make every person feel valued, if I can. I want to value people when I see them, whether I know them or not because people need to know they are valued, myself included. Without value life begins to feel pointless and not worth living. I’ve known too many people who didn’t realize how valued they we’re and tried to take their lives because of it, and that’s something I never want to see again. I realized that I valued them and did not do a great job of showing it, and that’s a mistake I don’t want to repeat. Not that I can save anybody, but if I can make somebody feel valued then I will do what I can. Also, I can’t be a source of value, but I can be a supplement.
2. I try not to live for things. If I die tomorrow all my things will be wasted, and as such I try not to live much beyond my needs. No thing has brought me amazing joy and no thing has lasting consequences, but there is an action that does, and that is love.
3. I live for love, because God is love and because no other action has eternal consequences. You may say, “but what about faith? Surely our faith in God has eternal consequences?” In Galatians 5:6 Paul says that the only thing that matters is “faith, expressing itself through love.” In other words your faith must be shown by your love. I don’t believe in logic as a road to faith because if you can be argued into it, you can be argued back out. If you have love, however, you are not at the mercy of an argument, because love goes beyond anything we understand.
4. Live with excellence, not in the sense of being the best at everything I do, but in giving my best to everything I do.
In my short life I’ve already seen too many people who do not know what they are worth and what they are capable of. This needs to change. It needs to change now. And words of love are the only thing that will accomplish this change.
