Life is Short

   
     A wise poet once offered this great advice: "make a new poem out of every experience and overcome the myopia of the present moment."(Ferlinghetti) I think one of the greatest things I have learned while here at college concerns the nature of time: life is short, and if you don't open your eyes you will miss it.



     The word myopia comes from the Greek muôps, literally meaning 'to shut' (muien) + eye (ôps). Therefore, a person with myopia is short sighted and does not see beyond the present moment.  They do not think of the consequences their current actions will have on future events.

     I am definitely guilty of this practice. Some of the things I ask myself everyday prove this: why do I need to do this homework, what good is this class, why worry about the ozone layer if its good for at least fifty more years, why save if I am going to be broke next month anyway?

     My father once told me that sometimes the things we do in life are investments. Now I am by no means an accountant like him, but I think what he was trying to say makes a lot of sense. Occasionally, there are times in life when you put in the work now for the hope that things will work out in the future. This is faith, "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."(Heb. 11:1)

     Today is the best time to work on gifts and talents. Life is short. You never know how many days you will have to make a change; "Say not ye, There are four months, and then cometh the harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."(John 4:35-36) I know that today is the time for me to lift up my eyes. There are so many things that could be done to make this world a better place. Each of us have our own 'fields' that we work, and have our own unique talents to share with the world. Faith over fear, work over worry.