“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”- Howard Thurman
Starting with a quote is probably the cheesiest, most high-school-essay-sounding way to start this off. I came across it a while back, and read it again yesterday... and then again today. I think I'm going to keep reading it, day after day after day, and just see what happens as I keep it at the front of my mind for a while. My friend Will (who you have heard of before if you read any of my posts when I lived in Jackson, and possibly even after. He's a smart guy, and if he read this, would probably blush a little at my mention of him.) always asks really great questions, one of them being, "what makes you feel alive?". My answer to this for quite a while has been "music". It's actually way more specific though, in that it's not just music, but that sense of togetherness you feel with crowd at a concert, when the band is playing a great song and everyone is singing along. That makes me feel alive. There are other things too--writing, good conversation, playing outside-- but that is usually my first thought. I don't know what the practicality of this is though. What does that mean to the world? Nothing, I would say. It means I'm a human being and that I like the feeling of being part of something greater. Who doesn't? How do I take what I know about myself, and translate that in to something that's good for humanity? Every answer to this question that I've come up with just sounds so gimmick-y.
Howard Thurman, the man who got me stirred up about all this, was an incredible individual who I confess I don't know enough about. Here's his wikipedia page in case you are curious about him, or know as little as I do. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Thurman. In a nutshell, his life was dedicated to reconciliation and non-violence-- he helped form the first racially-integrated church in the U.S. (1944), was Dean of Chapel at Howard University and Boston University, advised Martin Luther King Jr, and wrote a ton of books. When someone like this says that the world needs people to come alive, I have to wonder what exactly that looks like.
My second thought on this, upon reflection on some of Thurman's accomplishment, is that maybe this "live everyday like it's your last" mentality that is encouraged isn't necessarily right, or it has been skewed. I think about movies and songs about living every day like it's your last, and frankly, I think they are kind of crappy and deceiving. I get this idea that it's made to sound like you shouldn't care about anything but making it the most fun and self-pleasing day ever, without the responsibility of creating legacy. I'm not saying that a young Thurman envisioned doing the great things he did as efficiently or for as long as he did. Rather, he seems intentional about how he spent his time-- that he didn't live every day like it was his last, but did live it like it counted, as he worked for a greater good, a greater purpose. It's 1 AM, and I don't know if I'm really making sense right now. Maybe this is more clear: I want to live like there's more than the present. I want to live like I'm working toward something greater than today, than this time, in this place. I still have a thirst for adventure and for knowledge, but I want all of this to go toward something that I can't wrap my head around quite yet, but some day will be able to. I want to think that my experience is not in vain, and that the decisions I make will lead to more than self-fullfillment.
And now all I have stuck in my head is Dave Grohl singing , "come alive, come alive, come alive, come alive... etc". If you don't know what I'm talking about, listen to this song.
And then get inspired a bit. (Also, Arrested Development fans--isn't that Buster?)
"These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere
And in all my life I don't know that I ever felt so alive"
And in all my life I don't know that I ever felt so alive"
Sweet dreams,
LH
cool!
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