Gone
… the 1 second that you took to read the title above is now gone.
Two days ago I attended an event organized my church’s three campus groups and it was themed “Gone.” “Gone” is actually the title of a song by Switchfoot. It sounds like just another rock song, but it’s lyrics have profound meaning:
She told him she’d rather fix her makeup
Than try and fix what’s going on
But the problem keeps on calling
Even with the cell phone gone.
She told him that she believes in living
Bigger than she’s living now
But her world keeps spinning backwards
And upside down.
Don’t say so long, and throw yourself wrong
Don’t spend today away, ’cause today will soon be
Gone, like yesterday is gone
Like history is gone
Just try and prove me wrong and
Pretend like you’re immortal.
She said, he said, live like no tomorrow
Every day we borrow
Brings us one step closer to the edge (Infinity)
Where’s your treasure, where’s your hope
If you get the world and lose your soul?
She pretends like she pretends like she’s immortal.
Don’t say so long, you’re not that far gone.
This could be your big chance to make-up
Today will soon be
Gone, like yesterday is gone
Like history is gone
The world keeps spinning on
You’re going, going
Gone, like summer break is gone
Like Saturday is gone
Just try and prove me wrong
You pretend like you’re immortal (you’re immortal)
You’re immortal (you’re immortal)
Ha-ah
We are not infinite
We are not permanent
Nothing is immediate
We are so confident in our accomplishments
Look at our decadence.
Gone, like Frank Sinatra, like Elvis and his mom,
Like Al Pacino’s cash, nothing lasts in this life.
My High School dreams are gone
My childhood streets are gone
Life is a day that doesn’t last for long.
Life is more than money, time was never money
Time was never cash, life is still more than girls
Life is more than hundred dollar bills and roto-tom fills
Life is more than fame and rock and roll and thrills
All the riches of the kings end up in wills
We’ve got information in the information age
But do we know what life is outside of our convenient Lexus cages?
She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every moment that we borrow brings us closer
To the God who’s not short of cash
Hey Bono, I’m glad you asked
Life is still worth living, Life is still worth living
Life is more that you are.
If you could live today again, what would you do differently?
Yet it is true what the song says. We all live as if we were immortal. At least that seems to be true for people in my age group, around 20 years old and thinking that there is so much to life ahead of them. I had the grim realization 2 days ago that I had already spent about a quarter of my life or more (depending on whether I would live to see 80 years old) doing… what?
What in the world was I doing?
There was a season in my life when I used to spend many hours away on the TV and on stupid computer games like DoTA and Starcraft, doing stuff that has no value at all. Man, all that time, gone. And there are many of my peers who are still hooked on games. Could it have been spent in a better way?
Here at Berkeley, I am not so busy that I do not think about life in general. Some people think about study study study all the time. I like to still think about things.
I am sad that there are many youths out there who just don’t realize the urgency of the time at their hands. Delete those computer games, watch less TV or get rid of it. Watching or not watching that episode of Heroes does not change your life in any way at all, and I mean it. Surfing the internet mindlessly and doing nothing productive online is another time-waster which is, well, something I am trying to fix myself.
Well to be fair, perhaps I am not spending my time what well either. Perhaps to some extent I would still be dragged to that time-sucking activity called career-building one day instead of doing the things that matters. Even now, I have to prevent myself from being so entirely engrossed in the verb called “studying.” But it should be the case that these things do not consume us, or so I wish.
The pursuit of fame, ambition and material can wheel all our time away from the things that should matter more: family, pursuing God’s vision for us, and doing what really matters. On your dying bed would you call for your certificates and trophies and money so that you can smell it?
Who doesn’t want to be recognized and praised all over? But then again, in one hundred years to come, who in the world cares about you? They might talk about you like the way we are talking about Abraham Lincoln or Einstein now, but who cares? They’re all dead. You’re dead by then too.
“The greatest uncertainty in life is when would be our dying day”
“The greatest certainty in life is that we exist and that we will surely die.”
Only now do I understand the verse found in Ecclesiastes 7:2,
It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of every man;
the living should take this to heart.
Don’t think you are immortal. Time is being lent to you. We are living on borrowed time.
I think I want to start living more and more for other people instead of myself. I want to try and just help more people through in my daily life, in church, etc. Makes life more meaningful and more abundantly lived. It sad to be living short-sightedly thinking that I would be living forever and doing things for myself and myself alone.
Also, time spent worrying is time wasted. I don’t exactly know anything of what the future holds, but I do not want to agonize over “what’s next?”
The time is now.
Today will soon be gone.
Do something about it.
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Great food for thought!!!
i had similar musings when i attended an ‘Art of Living’ session.
The part about not wasting time is something i certainly find very true and practical….
TIME is the one and only one currency that we all start with equally; and proper investment of which…shall reap great returns….
“Time is being lent to you. We are living on borrowed time.”
Agree. We are living thanks to God’s blessings bestowed upon us.
Mortals we are, indeed. Life is indeed fragile. We are caught up in the droll, the mundane – “Assignments aren’t done and the due date’s next week!”
We often whine in our little nests and we forget that the little things we take for granted are often the things that keep us sane.
As students, we are often caught up with assignments and studies. Thank you for a great article written. It has once again reminded me and that life must be lived to the fullest, and with the gifts of talent, intellect, creativity and a host of other attributes bestowed on us by the Almighty, we should explore new frontiers and change the world for the better of mankind, beginning with our own family. Treasure them.
Carpe Diem, seize the day, Ern Sheong. for you will never see it again. GBU.
@KJ: hey your comment is greatly appreciated. indeed this fact that time is not unlimited should help us refocus our lives to the bigger picture rather than being caught up in disappointments and many other redundancies at the present moment, both of which are present all the time
all the best to you and the rest out there in deciding how to use your time.
read this yesterday in my devotion:
Ephesians 5: 15-17
- Walk in Wisdom
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Yes indeed, thanks for a reminder. We have no idea when we will be taken away to be with God, so better be careful with how we use our time.
Studying for God’s glory is a joy, just don’t get caught away with all the grades, the competition and the things.
“There was a season in my life when I used to spend many hours away on the TV and on stupid computer games like DoTA and Starcraft, doing stuff that has no value at all. Man, all that time, gone. And there are many of my peers who are still hooked on games. Could it have been spent in a better way?”
I say no. You see, if you think about everything in a positive manner, doing such thing is considered an experience. As long as you believe that there is always something to learn, then you waste 0 second of your time. If I am to be pessimistic, I’ll consider writing a crappy comment on your post a “time-wasting activity”, but I say not
While time is just so limited, it doesn’t mean that you have to use every single second of it to produce something what the society would label as “productive work”. You know. We’re not machines, and even machines have to rest after working for some time.
Well, I don’t know. I just think that we shouldn’t be so strict about our lives. Just live it
@Lucius: Yeah I think you are right in a sense. I did have fun at the time when I was playing, certainly we are not meant to be machines, I concur with that and am not a machine myself! And I do like to have fun, but as for now games are not the way I seek fun.
But it’s sad to see how people in their early twenties and late teens play and play and play almost all the waking hours of their day when they are not at work or in school. It is in this virtual world where they are hiding in and seeking a release from the stresses of the outside world. That, I think, is really bad and unhealthy. People are using excessive gaming to escape reality in a world free of consequences.
yeah we can just live out our lives but then we should also know and be aware of how we spend our lives. we cannot escape these questions. we cannot escape the reality of death. but then again is death really the end of it all, that after death, we are simply no more? if the answer is yes then it makes sense to just do whatever we want for our own pleasure and self-enrichment until we die. but if there is something beyond death then we should really relook at how we spend our lives since what we do now will have consequences later on after we cease to exist in this earth. these are questions every human should just ponder about. As for me, while I have found the answer in Christ, I am still exploring these questions in more depth.