QBLOG #36 - Knock! Knock!

"Knock! Knock!"

"Who's there?"

"Death."

"Death Who."

"Just Death."

"What do you want."

"You. It's time."

"No, no way....I can't go now. I've got too much I still want to do. No...not yet. ..please! "

"Sorry, it's time...."

I'm walking around Lake liberty and this knock knock joke comes to my head. The scenario was a bit different, but it made me think. It made me think about death. Not that there isn't enough in Iraq to make me think about it. But this is about my own mortality. My death. Am I ready?

I was watching the X-games the other day. The segment being shown is where participants were doing these incredible stunts on motorbikes. I believe it is called Moto-X. One of the contestants, Travis Pastrana was a contender for 1st place. The competition was incredibly tough. He stated that he might attempt to do a double back flipon his bike. This was something unheard of! No one else had attempted much less thought of doing a double back flip. He told his mother and father, who were there, that he loved them and if anything happened to him they should know that he absolutely enjoyed his life and what he was doing. They interviewed him just before his final jump. He said that if he completed it, the jump would be incredible and if he didn't he would either be dead or severly injured/crippled. As other contestants took their turns he cheered them on. He would get excited at their stunts and risks they took. He was excited about life and about what he was doing. Everyone in that arena and on television could feel his excitement and enthusiasm for life.

There is something about knowledge of death that I believe creates some sort of motivation; some sort of understanding about life. I've seen it affect people in ways that are incredible and positive. I believe there must be a lust to life in the people I've seen it affect. An example would be my friend Jim Frederick. He has been near death, but fought back from it and not only survived, but created a successful life for himself. Those of us who have layed witness to Jim's life have been affected by it and by his enthusiasm to make every moment count. It lets us know that we should be prepared for death, but we should also be prepared to live life.

Maybe some of you have watched the show, "Super Nanny". I watched my first show two days ago. It is a show where a professional nanny shows up and helps parents, well, train their children. The thing I found most interesting about this episode was 'success' seemed much easier than you'd think. Yet the parents in this instance fell back to unsuccessful behavior even though it seemed more difficult and produced horrible results. How does this and death come to be in the same blog? I believe as much as we fear death, we fear success. We train ourselves to NOT be successful. Maybe we are trained. I'm not really sure. We seem to choose a more difficult route. When I saw these kids and how they reacted to positive reinforcement and rebelled when there was little or negative reinforecement, it made me think about reasons we are afraid of death. Maybe somehow it equates to success in living.

My friend Linda Davis and I used to walk around Lake Liberty last year when we were both in Iraq. During those walks we had many great conversations. One in particular was about success at work. We were discussing performance evaluations and she told me she really payed no attention to them. I laughed and told her I didn't believe her. She went on to tell me her work story and history of the many times she got passed over even though she knew and felt she was the more qualified person for the job. If she had let evaluations be important to her it would have ruined her. She would have put stock in what was written. She knew she was better than the evaluations would ever be. So she didn't put stock in them. She worked and did her best everyday and proved to herself that she was a success. If no one else wanted to believe that or take note of that, it was ok because she knew.

It has been sometime since I read "The Greatest Miracle in the World" by Og Mandino, so details may be a bit sketchy. There is a moment in the book where the messiah is being crowded by throngs of people. They are asking him what they need to do in order to be saved. They tell him they will suffer many ways.
They will do penance. They will do difficult things, give up things, torture themselves, beat themselves-- if only he would tell them what or how they needed to suffer to reach a state of grace. The messiah turns to the throngs and tells them simply, "Be happy". They are silent. They are stunned. Be happy? "Be happy". Sometimes that is the most difficult thing for us to do. It is also the simplest. Be happy.

Travis Pastrana was geared up and ready to go...to take the ride of his life, to risk it all. He had this incredible smile on his face and a glint in his eyes. This was literally do or die. He revvved up his bike and off he went. The first flip, perfect....still going into the second flip.....the bike starting to come around ......Whammm! both tires touch the ground and the crowd roars with excitement and applause, everyone is crying. I'm crying. There is so much happiness and relief. Travis succeeded. He was living life out loud and to its fullest. He knew the risks, but he didn't take them lightly. He was not afraid to succeed. He was not afraid to die because he lived his life fully everyday. He was happy.


"Knock! Knock!"

"Who's there?"

"Death."

"Hey bud, what's up?"

"Just checking in."

"Cool, wanna catch some air with me? Maybe live it up a notch?"

Life. Success. Death. Failure. Happiness. Life. Death. We have a circle that we must complete and we have choices on how big, small, colorful or bland that circle is.
I've feared and yet called death to me in my life. Not anymore. I used to think that there were parts of my life, if I had the chance, I would change. Not any longer. Certainly not now. Everything....EVERYTHING I've done in my life has prepared me and made me the person I am today. And I like...no I love the person I've become amd am becoming. I'm letting myself follow paths that I was afraid of before. I still have fear in my life, but that is all it is - fear. It's not the end of the world. But if it were, I'm ready. I'm happy.

Blessings, Peace, Success and Happiness.

Robert