Monday, October 12, 2026
Would I do it if it were my last day on earth?
Sometimes, things can be left undone. Sometimes, play is all you’ve got. Sometimes, rest is all you’ve got. Sometimes, leisure is all you’ve got, and the imagination is all there is [to play with].
Many of our decisions are tomorrow-based. That tends to make a dull existence. The “to-hell-with-it” kinds of decisions make an exciting life. When I choose play over work, I’m giddy. When I choose frivolity over trial, I’m free. When I choose getting a massage over paying the mortgage, I’m intoxicated and stupid.
While I realize we have to pay bills and provide for ourselves, I tire of saving. I tire of getting ready. I tire of waiting. I like plunging and splurging. I like vacationing. I like perpetual leisure.
Leisure means free time. Opportunity afforded by free time. At your leisure means unoccupied. Unhurried. It’s from Latin licere which means “be allowed.”
Can Ryan come out to play? That’s what my friends used to ask, coming round, knocking.
I’m baffled why we can’t afford ourselves. Existence is expensive to the weary. To the young at heart, it’s free. We haven’t allowed ourselves. As babies we “allowed ourselves” to be cared for. Pampering seems “too luxurious.” Upstanding people respect guilt! Childish people mooch on “society.”
It’s too ostentatious (too good to be true) to have no worries. The guilty-minded “know” the price of existence. Nothing’s free.
Gotta pull your weight. Tomorrow waits.
Could Ryan come out and play, just this once?
What if it were his last day? To feel guilty, he’d have to assure himself that it wasn’t his very last day, beyond a reasonable doubt, and no such assurance exists.
Can we be so sure today isn’t our last…. to feel guilty?