Life

Life is an incredible gift, one I fear that not enough of us appreciate. I certainly don't think I do.

 We wake up, blindly struggle through the morning routine of shower, coffee, news, drive to work, and then slave away at at a job we hate before coming home to friends, family, pet, or the aloneness that we've created for ourselves. We make dinner and zone out in front of TV or the Internet, or a game, and don't really think about the world around us, or the stunning gift of our own bodies that allow us to follow this mindless routine day after day.

 Without you even thinking about it your body sustains your existence. It takes in air, oxygen, just by itself, it takes the nutrients out of food and turns them into the energy you need to function. it helps you learn that touching hot things is bad, and the freezing salt water is not fun to play in. It is capable of so much, and so many of us do nothing with it.

We don't test it, or train it, or help sustain it by treating it with kindness and respect.

 We feed it salt laden, sugar laden, fat laden, chemical laden, genetically modified foods that really couldn't be considered food by any sane person. I'm so guilty of this. Every meal I ate, for a whole week two weeks ago, was in some way processed. Refined white flour, processed fat reduced salami, cured prosciutto which is heavy with tasty tasty salt, processed cheese, meat from cows that were most certainly not raised ethically.

 And I guess the worst bit is that while we do it, poison our bodies, we don't really think about it. We enjoy food, as we should, because it's wonderful and sustains us, but we maybe shouldn't consume so much, and so many things that our poor bodies aren't designed to deal with.

I very much doubt that I'll stop eating pizza, or cake, and you'll have to pry my flat white from my cold dead hands, but I am going to try to be more aware of what I'm putting into my body.

I'm going to buy more regional fresh produce grown by people that don't cover things in chemicals. I'm going to buy free range meats so at least my steak had a good life before it became steak. I'm going to try eating fruits a d vegetables. And eating at a table concentrating on this wonderful fuel that is going to sustain me from day to day.

 We, society, have become sinfully indulgent in our constant search for happiness and gratification, and I'm terrible ashamed of how much I contribute to that description.

 Time to be more better at this thing called life.

 Onwards and upwards my friends, let us embrace being better people to prove humanity is not a lost cause.

 Ps. Just read this over, sorry about the typos and pretentious twaddle, it's been a very tiring confronting week.

May the road rise up to meet you

This amazing kid I know died today.

I didn't know him that well, didn't know what he liked for breakfast, or how he had his coffee, but he was my little brothers best friend since the age of, maybe 13, and so this kid was a presence in my life for the last 10 years.

And he was an amazing kid. He was smart, passionate, dedicated and kind. He was the kind of kid where, when you met him, you just knew he was destined to change the world. He was just that kind of amazing. He would laugh, and the world just seemed brighter, because he was so bright.

As they say, those that burn the brightest, burn the fastest, and so it was for Jerome.

The story of his final months is a sad one. You see, he just got married 3 weeks ago. He's been living with his girl for years, and they're incredibly committed to each other, but they only just got married 3 weeks ago. And the wedding was beautiful, his bride was stunning, he was happy, though he looked incredibly gaunt and had no energy and needed to sit down a lot.

Today, and yesterday, before he passed away, the cancer had effected his memory and he didn't remember his marriage. He remembered things from years ago, but not his marriage or his bride.

I can't even imagine her heartbreak. Not just losing her husband and partner mere weeks after their wedding, but losing his emotionally due to his memory before losing him to death. The emotional toll of that moment where he didn't remember her must have been so shattering. To lose someone so bright and vibrant in itself, without everything else surrounding it, would be hard but to lose him like this...it breaks my heart to think of her hurt, and my brothers hurt, and his families hurt, and all his friends who loved him like family.

We all deserve a chance to live a beautiful life full of love, and Jerome fit more love in his short life that many would in 80 or 90 years.

Hug someone you love today. Tell them you love them. Live life in a way that not just makes sure that people remember you, but they remember you with love, and talk about your passion and kindness, and how you changed their life.

May you shine as brightly in whatever comes next as you did in life, Jerome, you lit up every room you walked into.