Has anyone seen my shoes?

So this time it was my turn to take Tim somewhere.

I chose to take him all around Bristol to the places I grew up. While there were no breathe-taking sights and no "one-with-nature" moments, I still showed him parts of me that I could not have described in words. I took him first to my dad's burnt up house seen here and then to the soccer club that I have played at since I was 6 years old and volunteered at since I was 8 years old.

This show was sitting in the parking lot of the soccer club and while I was looking at it, all I could think was the quote from a Dane Cook joke, "Has anyone seen my shoes? I kicked them off in a fit of joy!" While to some of you that won't mean anything, to me it will always make me smile. Dane Cook may be a sold-out comedian that everyone thinks is so over-rated, but he is one of the memories and ties between my best friend, Jo, and me.

Memories go a long way with me. I'm a firm believer that we are a result of our experiences. While I don't believe I am a stronger person for all that I've been through, I do believe that what I've seen has made me re-align my life and perspective quite a few times. The quote, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone" comes to mind right now. It's sad to me how true that quote is.

Why is it that we are so content on taking advantage of things until we lose them? Wouldn't it serve a better purpose to love what you've got so you can rightfully pay tribute to it after it passes as well? When I realized a long time ago that I am given so much opportunity in life that I just wave away, I decided to change. I decided that I would no longer take every breathe for granted. One day my ignorance and naivety was going to bite me in the butt. Selfishness is a part of our society. It has become an accepted culture.

While yes people will say they are selfless and they may complain about those who are taking their lives for granted, they are just as much the culprit. In my opinion, everyone needs to take a step back, look at what's around them and then look in the mirror. I bet 9 times out of 10, they won't like what they find.

I don't know if you've ever read or seen Gone With the Wind or The Outsiders, but in both of these novels made movies, there is a part where the main characters are fawning over a sunset wondering why it is that the sky can't stay like that forever. You know what the reasoning is? Because if the sky stayed that way; painted in pink, purple, orange, and gold; then no one would ever show the appreciation toward it that it rightly deserves. There are things in life that are temporary on purpose. If they were permanent, they wouldn't be extraordinary. Take a second and just think about that. Isn't it sad that we can't be trusted/given incredible sights and feelings in life because then we'd just blow them off like everything else?

If that's not a perfect depiction of the human condition, I don't really know what is.

Quote:
"What is gold can never stay."