Some Guidance and Inspiration

I find friends coming to me for advice or help on a regular basis. Most of the time they tell me that they don’t see any way of fulfilling their dreams and ask me “Why bother.” I found Benjamin Franklin’s aphorism, found in his Poor Richard’s Almanac, “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” This aphorism inspires me to write out all the stories and poems I recite in my head. It tells me I must leave my mark on this earth after I have died. Keep in mind, this aphorism should not be taken completely literally.
A person could read this aphorism and think, “Hey, I have to do something with my life. I should become an actor!” It will motivate the person to fulfill the dreams they might have cast aside long ago.
Ever since I was a little girl, I loved reading books and illustrating pictures from my favorite stories. As I got older, I found that writing poetry relieved much of the self-bound stress I burdened with. Never did I ever actually read a poem that captured my imagination, until I visited “a kingdom by the sea.” That’s when I realized what I wanted to be remembered for after I have died.
Poetry is a painting waiting to enchant its reader. Writing manifests a world where the author escapes to when all is lost. In this kingdom by the sea, I met a hopeless romantic like myself. He told me a story about how the woman he loved the most was taken away by envious seraphs. He slowly sabotaged my heart as the love he and his wife shared unfolded in each line. For years, I’ve searched for another person who shared the same ideas and feelings I had at that time. I found this person when I least expected it, yet still today he makes my heart melt and robs me of my breath by his enchanting poetry.
Edgar Allan Poe is the reason why I write down my dreams as soon as I wake up. I always scatter to find a piece of paper and a pen whenever a couplet pops into my head because I feel that it is crucial to write down all my ideas. Edgar Allan Poe is a key factor to why the aphorism “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing,” is so inspiring to me.
Another, more universal message, this aphorism may give is the message to take life by the horns and live it up! If a person doesn’t dream, they don’t have anything to look forward to. That person lacks the motivation needed in life because they don’t find their life worth living. What do the Anglo-Saxons and Benjamin Franklin have in common? According to the Anglo-Saxons, the purpose of life was to achieve a status of high standards so that when the person has died they would forever be remembered for the great epic that they lived. Franklin concurred this belief in his aphorism, “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing,”
If you want to become immortal go out and do something exciting! Don’t sit around as a wallflower for the rest of your life. When you believe that you have your vocation, go out and achieve it! As Henry David Thoreau once said, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. There is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”