No Solutions, No Easy Answers

A couple hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin, shared with the world the secret of his success: “Never leave that until tomorrow” he said, “what you can do today.” This is the man who discovered electricity… you think more of us would listen to what he had to say. I don’t know why we put things off, but if I had to guess – I’d say it has a lot to do with fear.

Fear of failure, fear of pain, fear of rejection. Sometimes, the fear is just of making a decision, because… what if you’re wrong? What if you’re making a mistake you can’t undo?

The early bird catches the worm.

A stitch in time saves nine.

He who hesitates is lost.

We cant pretend we haven’t been told. We’ve all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to “seize the day”.

Still, sometimes, we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today’s possiblities under tomorrow’s rug – until we can’t anymore... until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin meant… that knowing is better than wondering. That waking is better than sleeping. And that even the biggest failure – the worst, most intractable mistake: beats the hell out of never trying.

Two years ago today, my friend Collin drowned in Liberia. It was one of those moments that completely changes you life, makes you think, makes you wonder - am I not invincible? Am I not indestructible?


Through Collin’s death, I have learned a few things.

First, live in the moment – forget what other people think and just live.
Second, take risks (which I understand ties into the first statement, but is also, at the same time – different.) Take risks: its not about the outcome, but more about the experience you gain from it… the friendships… the memories.

Today was hard. Today was full of manic-depressive type swings of emotion. Today was painful. Today was July 29th, 2009.

Pain comes in all forms: the small twinge, the bit of soreness, the random pain, the normal pains we live with everyday.

Then there’s the kind of pain you can’t ignore. A level of pain so great that it blocks out everything else – makes the rest of the world fade away… until all we can think about is how much we hurt.

How we manage our pain is up to us. Pain – we anesthetize, ride it out, embrace it, ignore it… and for some of us – the best way to manage pain is just push through it. Pain – you just have to hope it goes away on its own, hope the wound that caused it-heals.

There are no solutions, no easy answers. You just breathe deep and wait for it to subside. Most of the time, pain can be managed. But sometimes the pain gets you when you least expect it-hits way below the belt, and doesn’t let up. Pain. You just have to fight through it, because the truth: is you can’t outrun it, and life always makes more.


(Still miss you everyday Collin.)