By Joann Groff
Assistant Sports Editor
I bought a card at the beginning of the summer, even though I didn’t really understand its meaning. I was compelled to purchase this note card not for a picture, or its individual beauty — the piece of folded black paper was merely adorned with a quote in white type, and it was blank on the inside. I bought it because the quote came from an author I enjoyed in high school, and the sentence spoken from his lips printed on that card mystified me.
I pinned it up on the bulletin board in my room, and it seemed that most everyone who entered was captivated by what it said.
The quote meant so many things to so many people, and almost every one who noticed it had something to say about it. It was a reminder for my self-conscious friend Taryn to be her own person, to speak up about what she wanted to do.
It spoke to my friend Danny, always easygoing, to be more involved and offer some emotion to the group.
Lauren always said the meaning was beautiful to her because of its simplicity. To her, the quote meant to seize the day, and to welcome every new morning as a rooster announces the sunrise.
A friend of mine named Kia lives a life of many regrets. She grew silent as she wandered toward the card, and one could almost see the sadness of her eyes, a list of regretted choices flood her mind as she sat pondering her mistakes.
I knew from the minute I saw the card in that little boutique in Laguna Beach, Calif., that what was being said was a very bold statement. I didn’t understand what was so moving about it, but I was fully aware of the sizeable impact it had on me. I had it framed, and it hangs above the sliding glass door in my new room in Point Dume, next to pictures of my family and my favorite photographs.
After a summer of family crisis and loss, a move into a new house for both me and my parents, and the beginning of a new school year, I know better what Albert Camus was trying to say. When he said, “Live to the point of tears,” he meant for me, and everyone else, to cherish every moment.
Live every second like it’s your last, and embrace life to its fullest. Live with so much emotion, so much compassion, that you may even let a few tears go solely because you are living.
Life is an arduous journey, but it is also a gift. If everyone treated it as such, perhaps there would be more tears of amazement and thankfulness, than those of anger and hurt.
Everyone has the power to choose what his or her life is like. Whatever you choose, live it as you want to — and live it to the point of tears.
April 03, 2003