All New People

I started my Sunday morning newspaper reading with an article about a young guy who ran from the cops, put his car in park and jumped in a lake in an effort to get away. They cornered him with a copter over head and cops wading into the water to put the cuffs on him.

I suppose he has a good story for somewhere down the line.

Yet it was a weird week as two longtime North Collins residents were laid to rest and a lot of my lifelong friends experienced that overwhelming grief. I stood with a grieving daughter in the funeral home that I hate. We were looking at the photos of the well-lived kingdom of days.

"She did it all," my friend said.

And one line entered my brain.

In 100 years. All new people.

And I suppose we can't live our lives thinking about it much, but some people should think about it a little, huh?

We all did some crazy crap as kids. Some of us even carried it a little futher, right?

But eventually there has to come a moment when we think about what we will leave behind.

'Cause 100 years from now what will our days have meant?

It's all about putting one good day after another, right?

As a parent there's so much angst as we think about what their days will hold. It's a natural thought to think about their days being problem-free and blissful.

It doesn't work that way.

They will need to make their own way.

Hopefully they won't be diving into a lake to elude police.

But if they do hopefully they will be able to turn it all around.

"She did it all," my friend said.

"It's what we all aspire to do," I said.

"YOLO," people often write in order to justify doing something really stupid.

I'm thinking YOLO should be a statement of doing it the right way.

Ah well.

In 3013 maybe they'll know a whole lot more about living the right way.

I doubt it.

It'll probably be the same old recipe.