Tomorrow’s promise
Saturday August 21, 2004 at 9:43 am
Very few are born to riches or gain them later in life. Very few will ever live the dream that they choose. Very few are ever famous. Very few of cherished wishes ever come true. Very few of tomorrow's promises are ever realized.
Yet we sacrifice every day of our lives to tomorrow's promise, as though each of us had a presentiment of the road we are bound to travel — a road paved with the promises of every dream left unfulfilled and every worthy goal, a road over which dangles the cosmic carrot we feel compelled to follow.
For most, this road is an endless pursuit of the unachievable, mired in shadow and empty promises, the promises chased through existence without realization.
But at what cost?
Life's countervailing reality, contrary to our own behest, conflates the imaginary world we pursue with every breath. Step by step we presume to know that our journey is bringing us closer to that which we dedicate our lives to achieving, yet how many of us truly reach fulfillment? How many of us, when this earthbound life is through, can honestly say that we have achieved all that we set out to achieve?
We sacrifice the joy and happiness of today in the hope of seeing them again tomorrow. We assure ourselves that the promise of a better life is reason enough to sacrifice that which we already hold. Some believe this to be providential while others believe it to be the very definition of life.
I will not debate that which is known so well — that we cannot sacrifice tomorrow for the pleasures of today, that day-to-day existence is not living but surviving. While I would not presume to debate that assertion, I offer for consideration the premise that neither should we sacrifice today for tomorrow's promise.
This thought came to me the other day which took a while to understand: we should plan for tomorrow, but we must live today. A dream somehow transformed into a vision, as if I could touch it with my hand, yields the truth of tomorrow's promise.
Life is to be lived. We do not live in tomorrow; we live in today. If we sacrifice today for tomorrow's promise, we have not lived but have instead only dreamed of living, we have sacrificed life for promise.
I believe the things in dreams can be the same as reality if we so choose.
So I choose to live. I choose to live today in the hope that tomorrow's promise will be fulfilled. I choose to enjoy life while I live it rather than planning for a tomorrow which may never come. I choose to take every breath with the understanding that I am not guaranteed another. I choose to reach for tomorrow's promise without sacrificing today's fulfillment. I choose to cherish every moment spent in the now without losing sight of what may be in the future.
I do not intend to survive. I intend to live.
I may plan for tomorrow, I may hope for tomorrow, and I may reach for tomorrow, but I will not do so at the expense of today.
My life is of today. My dreams are of tomorrow.
May I have the courage to live today and dream of tomorrow. May I experience life as I live it rather than through the regrets of too many yesterdays. May I live each day so as to have no regrets tomorrow. May I see tomorrow's promise through living today and enjoying the memories of yesterday.
jason
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November 29th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Sincerely,
Nadia
November 30th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Thank you so much for visiting, Nadia, and for commenting.
As for this post, I wrote it. It’s sort of a conglomeration of thoughts taken from my personal journals–dating back more than 30 years–and my present thoughts.
How was I inspired to write it? Life. I can’t put it more simply than that. I live. I want to live. I intend to live. Doing less by just surviving day to day in hope of tomorrow offers me nothing. I have no faith, no desire for an afterlife. What I do have is right now, this moment, this very instance of time wherein I see and feel. To me, that’s all we have.
That’s what inspired me to write this. That’s what inspires me each day to do more than just stumble through the world looking forward to my next paycheck, looking forward to paying the next bill, looking forward to the next second I’m alive.
I will not be another statistic, another life of shallow pursuits. I want to live. That’s what matters to me most.
And when do I live? Right now, in this moment, in this tiny increment of time called a second. That’s all I have. No one can guarantee anything else.
Show me the person of faith who has every dream ensured. Show me the individual who knows for certain what tomorrow will bring. Those are the only people who can live for tomorrow.
They don’t exist, though. I know it, and every person on the planet knows it. They deny it with prayers and recitations of spiritual writs, but that’s all a game they play to keep themselves from screaming too much.
Truth be told, all we have is now. If we don’t make the most of it, it’s our fault.