Get busy living or get busy dying

I watched the movie Tuck Everlasting last weekend (yeah, somewhat of teeny-bopper chick-flick).  I then went out in the pool to float around soaking up the sun and think about it. In the movie, a family drinks from a magical spring and end up becoming immortal. They don’t age and they don’t die. They are just frozen in time. Now, at first thought this sounds awesome and my knee jerk reaction is, yeah, living forever would be awesome. But with a little deeper thought, I’m not so sure….

The very thing that makes life precious is its fragility and its finiteness. Time is limited for us. We know we probably have between 65 and 85 years depending on our genetics and how well we take care of our body. But life is about growing and changing. Rocks don’t change. They just are. They just exist. But living things change – constantly. They grow. And they die. Each phase of life is special – infancy, toddler, pre-schooler, grade-schooler, pre-teen, teenager, young adult, middle age adult, and senior adult. And with each phase come different experiences and relationships with the world around us and with other people. No phase is better than the other. Each is phase is unique. Each is special.  To be ‘stuck’ or frozen in any one of these periods would be tragic.

The most profound line from the movie was when the senior Tuck (the father) was talking to a 16 yo girl trying to convince her that living forever is not all it’s cracked up to be, "Don’t be afraid of death. Be afraid of the unlived life."


So what the heck does any of this have to do with triathlons?  I see taking on the challange of a triathlon as an experience that most people COULD do but very few people actually do.  And that is why I salute you fine folks for living large and not being afraid to put yourself out there and swing for the fence.

Cheers!

~Mike