A Committment to Living

You knew nothing at birth
Your mind a blank slate waiting to be written
But you grew, accepted dogma
Received experience, gained insight
and observed the world

Your fresh mind was filled with possibilities
Proud announcements of what you would become
Once you grew up
Parents encouraged with guarded smiles
Holding secrets they only knew

From childhood to a young adult
You found wings to fly
Thoughts soared, ideas flashed across your mind
You told your schoolmates what your future held
They smiled and agreed, eyes glossed over

You found a labored, imperfect world
The fighting did not make sense
Shouting of peace, men went to war
The media reported bloodied bodies
While soldiers' hopes of peace lay dead in their eyes

You took a summer job and found
The cost of living far more than a salary could bring
The dreams of wealth lay subdued to pay the costs of an education
The administration smiled
And told you not to set your sites too high

There was yet hope as you graduated
A degree to proudly display as you began your journey
Of wealth as you strove to fulfill those childhood dreams
You told your fellow employees of your purpose of living
They smiled, their hard stares emotionless

Love led you to marriage, a new world opened
Companionship to reach new dreams
You found peace and love reflected in your honeymoon
The ideas of lasting wealth and bliss
Yet her parents smiled doubtfully, dubious

You knew something was wrong
Even as your child was born
There was no time to reach dreams in the midst of responsibility
A family needed caring, bills must be paid
There was always tomorrow

You discovered that responsibility required money
Your job, once appreciated, lost its value to drudgery
The need to pay bills and service a growing family
Took preeminence
Yet strangely, you know there had to be a better future

Money did not come when you expected
Soon your hopes rested on the spin of a roulette wheel
The numbers on a lottery ticket
Years passed and your dreams remained unfulfilled
As you spent your days around the barbecue

Your children bravely faced their world
With the same glow of ambition
The same hope you once had so many years before
And all you could do was give them guarded smiles
Like those your parents gave you

The aches and pains and the diseases of age
Crept up on you
How those dreams slipped past so easily
Only retirement would renew your commitment to living
The eyes of your dying friends told you time was short

There on your deathbed, you gave instructions
Somehow life's purpose passed you by
You paid your bills, as was expected
You were too busy living in an impossible future
That you neglected life in the present moment

So many regret and relive the past
While others fantasize about a future unknown
When all that living really demands
Is that you enjoy every indrawn breath
The only real world you have is Now