What would you die for?

An interesting question with several different answers depending on who you ask. Some people might say their loved ones, some would say their home, while others would die for vague concepts like freedom or honour. Still there are some that would say that nothing is worth sacrificing one’s life for. But then again, not many of us are ever put in a situation where we would need to put our lives on the line so hypothetical questions like this one don’t have much weight to them. We really don’t know how much we would sacrifice and for what until we are staring that choice in the face.

When one doesn’t fear death like the Gaul did, it becomes easier to embrace. In truth, death is not something to fear, it’s inevitable anyways. That’s not to say that one should be reckless and chase after death, but rather come to terms with and be at peace with the fact that everything ends eventually. Death can be an easy choice but the choice to keep on living can be much harder, especially if the odds are stacked against you. So with that said I want to pose a different question, one that I feel has a deeper philosophical meaning.

What do you live for?

This is a question that I imagine not many people have thought to in depth about to be honest. The question of what keeps you here and what gets you out of bed is, in my opinion, more important than what you would die for. This is a question I’ve had to dwell on for years in order to get myself out of dark periods in my life.

While I can’t control when my time is up, I can at least try to live in a way that I have no regrets when it’s over. Mundane things like making sure that my loved ones won’t be heartbroken by my passing and that my pets will be taken care of are things on my mind but they aren’t the full reason as to why I stay. The main reason is that I don’t want my existance to have been for nothing. While I won’t leave behind some grand legacy, I at least want to be remembered for something.

The thought of all of my successes and failures disappearing into nothingness is a worst fate than dying from my point of view. That might seem a little extreme but knowing that there has been so much lost when it comes to the ancient Gauls just drives me to want to secure my own story. I don’t want my tale to be told by others, especially those they may not be fond of me. I want to be in charge of my own narrative so that in the future, people know exactly who I was and what I believed in.

I live for my tomorrow because for the longest time, I didn’t think I was going to have one. Every day, I wake up grateful that I made it through the night so that I can seize the present. I don’t know when I will meet my end but I will welcome it like an old friend. Hopefully when that time comes, I will have left something great behind.