“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.” - James Dean

I've never actually given too much thought to James Dean. I knew he died quite young and did a few movies... but really I could have cared less. I found this quote by him some time ago and decided it was time to read a bit on him.

James Dean was only 24 when he died from a car crash. He had one hell of a life and when people over come certain obstacles, that I don't know how I would handle, I have a great deal of respect. I'm not going to go on and on about his life, but to me, I have a new found respect for him and am quite interested to see his work. Knowing how fast he progressed as a person and actor. I will always wonder what would have happened if he was given more years. How his life and career would have evolved.

24 years old. I'm three years older than the day his life ended. My brother is about 3 years younger. Thinking about what I've accomplished, even now doesn't say much. James Dean didn't give a second thought to the bad cards he was dealt. James Dean didn't sit back and say "well this is the way it's going to be". James Dean didn't sit and think. James Dean lived.

“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.” That's not only what he said... he did it. Living as if all hopes, desires, dreams, money, possessions, love all ends by midnight tonight. I know it's a crazy thought. I know we can't all pick up today and go live our lives the way our inner most desires want us to, but really... why not? Maybe we can't make everything happen today or tomorrow... but what's stopping all of us from really going after what we want? The only thing we take with us when we die is what we did with our lives. We take with us the journeys, the memories, the love in our hearts for our family, friends, and lovers. We take with us the accomplishments. We take with us the regrets... why would ANYONE want to take regrets? Yet, we do. Probably because it always looks like we can't pick up from our normal, safe, secure positions we are in life. We're scared. We're scared we will fail. We're scared we will succeed. I don't know about all of you, but I look at it all and I know I'll never fail. I may fall down. I may fall hard. I may break some bones, tear some skin, and have one hell of a scar. But scars are just a healed reminder of what happened. A scar is on the surface like a wrinkle on your face. It's there so that when someone says to you "what happened there?", you can tell them the story of what you went out to do and how you overcame and eventually accomplished what you wanted most in the world.

We tell our friends, our lovers, our children that they can go out and do anything and everything they want. That their dreams are in the palm of their hands. Well aren't ours? Why do we believe it true for everyone else but ourselves? We deserve our inner most dreams and desires too! I think we all need to stop giving ourselves excuses about money, jobs, security, ties, etc and just jump! I think we all need to take heed from James Dean... who at the age of 24 knew more about living and life than the majority of us. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring... so why not? All we know is what we have right now, right this second. I think we all need to "dream as if we'll live forever.... and live as if we'll die today."