Everyone has an achievement, an end goal, they wish to accomplish during their lifetime. The fortunate have found their passion and will pursue it as long as they live. For some, the passion which they wish to pursue is a risky one, full of danger and chance. However terrifying it may be to the general population, these dare-devils charge their goals anyway, risking life and limb to accomplish their dreams. This begs the question at hand, is a risky life passion worth pursuing if death seems probable? The answer is, without the slightest hesitation, yes. Take, for instance, the 42 year old by the name of Bruce Eric Matthews. Bruce had an obsession with kiteboarding, an extreme sport that involves a kite towing the surfer. He recently died because of excessive wind gusts on the day of a tournament. (Leiker 1). However unfortunate it may be, Eric died doing what he loved. For him, a life without kiteboarding was not worth living.
While anyone can have a dangerous life passion, the ones that excel at theirs are often naturally gifted. The gifted ones often do not know they have a specific talent until interaction stimulates their interest. In the book Snake Charmer: a life and death in pursuit of happiness, the protagonist of the novel, Joe Slowinski, is motivated to pursue herpetology only when it offers a challenge to his life. “Yet when that prairie rattlesnake, roused from its cool slumber under a rock, flew at Joe and sank its fangs into his flesh; releasing a debilitating dose he experienced the most exhilarating, viceroy challenge to his life so far,” (James 45). “Ordinary people develop a fearful aversion to snakes after such an encounter, but there was nothing ordinary about Joe’s attraction to reptiles,” (James 52) Jo...
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...etimes, however, passion is not the driving force. Success is. To some, arriving back at the beginning of their trek empty handed is far worse than death. The professor in Journey to the center of the earth is a prime example. After finding the second world within the earth, he fights tooth and nail to return to the world above, not for life itself, but for the gratification of saying he was right. (Brevig 08). Many people come but inches from their life goal, a task worthy of being put in the history books and told around the fire, only to fall short. Words cannot adequately describe the rage, disappointment, and self-loathing these broken souls must feel. To these failures, death would certainly be better.
In the end, risky life passions are worth pursuing due to the fact that if no one pushes the confines of human existence, there is no point to our life anyway.
The author¡¯s techniques in Rattler convey not only a feeling of sadness and remorse but also a sense of the man¡¯s acceptance of the snake¡¯s impending death. The reader can sense the purpose of the author¡¯s effective message through the usage of diction, imagery, and organization.
What do the following words or phrases have in common: “the last departure,”, “final curtain,” “the end,” “darkness,” “eternal sleep”, “sweet release,” “afterlife,” and “passing over”? All, whether grim or optimistic, are synonymous with death. Death is a shared human experience. Regardless of age, gender, race, religion, health, wealth, or nationality, it is both an idea and an experience that every individual eventually must confront in the loss of others and finally face the reality of our own. Whether you first encounter it in the loss of a pet, a friend, a family member, a neighbor, a pop culture icon, or a valued community member, it can leave you feeling numb, empty, and shattered inside. But, the world keeps turning and life continues. The late Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers and of Pixar Animation Studios, in his 2005 speech to the graduating class at Stanford, acknowledged death’s great power by calling it “the single best invention of Life” and “Life’s great change agent.” How, in all its finality and accompanying sadness, can death be good? As a destination, what does it have to teach us about the journey?
... of ego integrity versus despair. As time goes by, they lose their jobs, physical strengths, spouses, and friends (Crain 171). The mission for this stage is to bind together all the experiences they have and accept the death (Gross 63). They will be more enjoy their life if they did it, rather than fear death every day.
We all know that staying safe will keep us alive, but it is a boring way to live. The biggest regret a person can have is never trying what they always wanted. As mentioned before, time never stops, so it is crucial that they act now. We fight a battle before we are even born against millions of others to see who will get to the egg first and be fertilized and born. We did not come to this world to just be safe and to be afraid to do new things. We all have a reason to be here and the journey of life is to find our purpose in life. It is what makes life so great, but to get their we must take risks and overcome that fear. People are afraid of taking risks because of failure. They are afraid to fail and not get anywhere. However, that fear can be overcome is they keep pushing and keep trying and keep taking risks. Taking risks will get a person out of their “safe” comfort zones and the result of this can be something so
This is the same with other paths of life with existentialism questioning the authenticity of using things such as religion to fill such void leading to many nihilistic tendencies as well as alienation for oneself and the world around them. What is their left for some who comes to terms with these ideas perhaps suicide. Camus explores the effect of this dilemma which can be seen in his first novel A Happy Death where the two characters are have a conversation about what it is to love life with one of them proposing that for him” Loving life is not going for a swim. It's living in intoxication, intensity. Women, adventures and other countries.” To which the other responds by saying “To think the way you do, you have to be a man who lives either on a tremendous despair, or on a tremendous hope.” Representing that either that the character has embraced life’s meaninglessness and carried on by living life to its fullest or being so hopeful to the point where he’s blind to the cold truth of
Lewis Thomas reaches out to all victims in death’s reach to assuage their fear of dying. Thomas wants his readers to understand that they cannot escape death; it is an “indispensible part of living.”
Morrie maintained this point of view, and believed that death prompts the way we live: “Everyone knows they’re going to die but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently”(23). A study by Cicirelli (2001), showed that death is a motivating force for realizing life goals, but was higher for a young adult cohort compared to an aging generation cohort. This is partly attributed to mature adults already having accomplished their lifetime objectives, and subsequently having set minor tasks for achievement before cessation. (Cicirelli, 2001). Therefore, despite death as a motivational force declining as life progresses, it is still a contributing factor to individual’s goal directed behaviour throughout livelihood. Morrie supported this, saying that comprehending what it means to die causes one to live a better life.
Death is one of the concepts that is perceived differently throughout cultures. Some see it as a punishment or loss, some take it as just another chapter of our existence – a transition to the unknown. Death is so much more than just life running out of time; it includes a great deal of pain: physical, social – leaving our loved ones behind, mental – trying to understand what fills that void when we die, emotional – frustration and regret, and spiritual – fear of not having led a fulfilling life. There is a fear of death, or the unknown that awaits afterwards not only in relation to ourselves, but also in relation to people we love, and despite the pain that fills our hearts, sometimes we need to do the right thing to ease their journey.
...ake risks because in order to have a chance at a big reward. You should push yourself out of your comfort zone in pursuit of your goals.
Ménez, Andre’. The Subtle Beast: Snakes, from Myth to Medicine. New York, New York: CRC Press, 2003.
I’ve known so many people who have had their lives cut short unexpectedly. You never can really know when your last day is, so why waste it doing things that don’t make you happy? So many people settle for less, just because it is easier and more comfortable. Life is short to begin with, and it can be cut even shorter at any possible moment. I think people should take risks and aim for the things that will ultimately leave them satisfied with their life.
The most unfortunate fact about death is sometimes arrives unexpected and the quick action seizes years of work, plans, irreplaceable feelings and definetly damages the surroundings. Death collects away the energy from our closest friends and loved ones, while our few companions have to make adjustments moving and sustaining into the future discovering divergent paths to lay a hold of and experience while leaving the old ways behind. People are abandoned to bare the vicarious feelings from such a tragic event and become survivors, often abscond into different lifestyles or professions. “ Who will
What goes through the minds of those who know they will perish is a phenomenon to the minds of those who have not experienced the dance with death. For some, the moment that they know they will die is mere seconds before their own tragic ending, and others know long before it will happen. It is in these stretches of time that will test our intellect of our mind, body, and world when the time comes to know if we have truly lived. One definition of “living” is stated, “full of life of vigor”, which John Keats exhibited to the extreme. (Merriam-Webster) John Keats, world-renowned poet, knew his end was coming and he aspired to transcribe his thoughts into words on a page; it is with these words in which we, those who lack the experience of knowing
The dying process is often seen as a grueling one, full of pain and anguish. But De Hennezel shows us, that when supported and surrounded by love it can be an amazing experience. The effect one person can have is amazing and can be quite invigorating. Some would say one’s passion for life is incomparable to that of someone who is dying. Murphy shows us how, when faced with death, one can choose to continue living with passion as he did through his work. Their value of life as well as death is inconceivable and can teach those of us who are alive and healthy, a thing or two about life.
I have acted on my passions several times throughout my youth. Sometimes it paid off to act on my passions and other times it did not. Every year, month, day, hour, and second I must make a decision whether or not I wish to act on the passions burning inside of my body. My passion is a part of my being as much as it is a part of your being and Frederick Nietzsche in his argument “Morality as Anti-nature” displays this concept beautifully. He believes that our passions make up who we are and they are a sign of how deeply we feel our emotions. He believes that “we are never satisfied merely to state the fact that we feel this way” (723). As humans we feel that we must express the degree’s to which we feel our emotions/passions through our words, expressions, and movements.