slacker's lifestyle

Sorry I've really been slacking the past couple nights my friends. I have things to say, I'm just not finding the time to say them.

Well yesterday was pretty much the easiest day of school I've ever had. I spent the majority of the day wandering the halls with a pass from Mrs. Bookmiller. I never planned on going to the library, I just planned on using her pass as an excuse if I was confronted by the hall monitor (which would never happen because Coach Lev doesn't care.)

Aside from roaming the halls and spending some time in the library we had a guest speaker. His name was Father Scott Seethaler. Father Scott is a friar and he has worked extensively at the high school and college level as well as doing great charity work in Oaxaca, Mexico. Father Scott came in to talk to us about the transition into the next stage of our lives.

One thing he said really stuck out to me. He used a quote by Chili Davis that I felt epitomized so many people. He said, "Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional."

I feel this can be taken in two separate senses. I think that there are two types of "growing up" we do.

The first type is growing up in a sense of maturity. I look around the halls and see many seniors that act like 12 year olds. I, myself, enjoy being immature from time to time. Immaturity, in the right places, can be humorous and harmless. Like every situation in life there are times to be mature and other times it is okay to regress a little.

The second type of growing up is the idea of coming to accept what we have to do. Accepting that we have to move on from one stage of our life to the next. Accepting responsibilities and freedoms associated with living on our own. I believe there comes a time in a person's life where they have to begin to fully understand what is expected of them. If a person misses this epiphany type moment, they will have a hard time ever getting it back.

I think Father Scott was referring to a mixture of the two senses of growing up. A large part of accepting our place in this world has to do with maturity. A lot of kids make bad decisions, but it isn't solely because they're immature. Immaturity is necessary in every person's life. If you don't agree with that, then you haven't been immature lately.

"Growing old is mandatory."  That's scary. I'm not afraid of getting old, by any means, but I'm afraid of dying. Dying is the only thing you have to do in this world. (Everyone else lies, you don't have to pay your taxes.)

Death is the inevitable, ugly brother that life brings along.

But as Father Scott said, if you live a prosperous life you won't fear becoming old because you'll have lived every day to it's fullest. I pray that I am the type of old man who doesn't fear death.

I love the line from The Tales of Beedle and Bard in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The line reads...


"And then he [the third brother] greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, as equals, they departed this life."


That's the way I want to go out, as an equal of death. As someone who lived their life as best they could. 


Here's a link to Father Scott's website. Check it out if you'd like. The clinic he opened in Mexico is amazing considering how poor an area it is. http://fatherscott.com/

NP: Call Me Maybe- Carly Rae Jepsen