A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, coöperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.
- Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love.
One of my favorite authors, and if you haven’t read that book, you should.
A long time ago, I was giving a pretty inspiring list of “100 Things To Do Before You Die” … I don’t remember all the details, but as I understand it, the man who wrote it did so as he was lying in a VA hospital after World War II, not sure if he was going to survive or not. Well, he did, and by the time I saw this list, which was maybe ten years ago, he had accomplished most (I would say about eighty-something of the hundred) of the items, and was still alive and trying to finish out his list before he died. It wasn’t little things, either… most of them were exploration-related, such as visiting the North Pole, visiting the South Pole, climbing Mt. Everest, etc.
I guess I’m just in this frame of mind because I received my graduation tickets in the mail. I have no idea what my life is going to be like in a year from now. Hopefully I can make myself and my family proud. Hopefully I can honestly contribute towards a better world. At the very least, hopefully I won’t be stuck in a miserable, life-draining, no-prospects job like some of my recently graduated friends seem to be.
But yeah… I’m going to make my own list of things to do before I die, and I’d like to finish the list before 2008. Give me ideas!
Write a kind letter to an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time
Do 25 pullups
Write a program that helps get things done well
Get on television
Write a book
Good luck!
are you talking about me? working at AT is a little miserable, a little life-draining, and probably has no prospect… but I get to look at (and feel) the pretty stuff 8 hrs a day! On top of that, I get to walk 16 miles in heels/day. Isn’t life wonderful?
Dinh’s already been on TV — KVIE!!!!
I know I have a list of things to do before I die… but that crashed when my computer crashed. But I can at least cross a few out when I visited NZ.
How about solving a rubik’s cube (I want to do that), learn how to play guitar (working on it), North Pole (before it melts away), South Pole, change a child’s life (I want to adopt a child in poverty… should get on to that once I have a steady salary), plant 1000 trees (which would require me planting 20 trees/yr so I can plant 1000 trees before I die), become a vegetarian (but I really like chicken… and fish… and pork… and beef…), eat 10 licorice jelly beans (I try not to be too harsh on myself…)… etc.
What a long list!