A TV series was started not long ago by 4 Canadian adventurists who were tired of the college life. From my understanding, trudging through text books and making dates with professors and libraries wasn't cutting it for them. They wanted more than what educational hardbacks and lectures could provide. So, they made a list of 100 things to do before they die, and are currently in the process of accomplishing every one of those goals. Along the way they help a stranger do something they've always wanted to do. It's an idea to encourage living a life of fulfilment as well as spreading kindness. Needless-to-say, I have been bit. Interested in their mission, I read the poem by Matthew Arnold upon which the show is based. The Buried Life reads as follows:
Light flows our war of mocking words, and yet,
Behold, with tears mine eyes are wet!
I feel a nameless sadness o'er me roll.
Yes, yes, we know that we can jest,
We know, we know that we can smile!
But there's a something in this breast,
To which thy light words bring no rest,
And thy gay smiles no anodyne.
Give me thy hand, and hush awhile,
And turn those limpid eyes on mine,
And let me read there, love! thy inmost soul.
Alas! is even love too weak
To unlock the heart, and let it speak?
Are even lovers powerless to reveal
To one another what indeed they feel?
I knew the mass of men conceal'd
Their thoughts, for fear that if reveal'd
They would by other men be met
With blank indifference, or with blame reproved;
I knew they lived and moved
Trick'd in disguises, alien to the rest
Of men, and alien to themselves--and yet
The same heart beats in every human breast!
But we, my love!--doth a like spell benumb
Our hearts, our voices?--must we too be dumb?
Ah! well for us, if even we,
Even for a moment, can get free
Our heart, and have our lips unchain'd;
For that which seals them hath been deep-ordain'd!
Fate, which foresaw
How frivolous a baby man would be--
By what distractions he would be possess'd,
How he would pour himself in every strife,
And well-nigh change his own identity--
That it might keep from his capricious play
His genuine self, and force him to obey
Even in his own despite his being's law,
Bade through the deep recesses of our breast
The unregarded river of our life
Pursue with indiscernible flow its way;
And that we should not see
The buried stream, and seem to be
Eddying at large in blind uncertainty,
Though driving on with it eternally.
But often, in the world's most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;
A thirst to spend our fire and restless force
In tracking out our true, original course;
A longing to inquire
Into the mystery of this heart which beats
So wild, so deep in us--to know
Whence our lives come and where they go.
And many a man in his own breast then delves,
But deep enough, alas! none ever mines.
And we have been on many thousand lines,
And we have shown, on each, spirit and power;
But hardly have we, for one little hour,
Been on our own line, have we been ourselves--
Hardly had skill to utter one of all
The nameless feelings that course through our breast,
But they course on for ever unexpress'd.
And long we try in vain to speak and act
Our hidden self, and what we say and do
Is eloquent, is well--but 'tis not true!
And then we will no more be rack'd
With inward striving, and demand
Of all the thousand nothings of the hour
Their stupefying power;
Ah yes, and they benumb us at our call!
Yet still, from time to time, vague and forlorn,
From the soul's subterranean depth upborne
As from an infinitely distant land,
Come airs, and floating echoes, and convey
A melancholy into all our day.
Only--but this is rare--
When a beloved hand is laid in ours,
When, jaded with the rush and glare
Of the interminable hours,
Our eyes can in another's eyes read clear,
When our world-deafen'd ear
Is by the tones of a loved voice caress'd--
A bolt is shot back somewhere in our breast,
And a lost pulse of feeling stirs again.
The eye sinks inward, and the heart lies plain,
And what we mean, we say, and what we would, we know.
A man becomes aware of his life's flow,
And hears its winding murmur; and he sees
The meadows where it glides, the sun, the breeze.
And there arrives a lull in the hot race
Wherein he doth for ever chase
That flying and elusive shadow, rest.
An air of coolness plays upon his face,
And an unwonted calm pervades his breast.
And then he thinks he knows
The hills where his life rose,
And the sea where it goes.
(Photo by Andy Schreck)
Following the words of Mr. Arnold and the actions of 4 Canadian good-hearts, MY BURIED LIFE becomes this...
1. Swim with dolphins.
2. Go parasailing.
3. Sing karaoke in a public establishment.
4. Learn to do bar tricks (flip bottles).
5. Ride a camel.
6. Ride an elephant.
Who: The Damn Quails, Pidgin Band, Camille Harp, Travis Linville, Hayes Carl
What: Illinois River Jam
When: September 2011
Where: Illinois River in Tahlequah, OK.
9. Visit the pyramids in Egypt.
10. Go to Oregon.
11. Learn 5 or more songs on piano.
Who: With Aubrey Cox, John Moffett,
What: OKC Thunder vs. Houston Astros
When: November 2010
Where: OKC, OK
13. Hold a snake.
14. Bungee jump.
15. Get a motorcycle license.
16. Plant a tree.
17. Publish a book.
18. Visit a haunted house - a real one with real stories.
19. Shake the hand of someone famous.
20. Ride in a dune-buggy across a desert.
21. Visit a wax museum.
22. Make homemade wine.
23. Wake up early enough or stay up late enough to watch the sunrise over an ocean.
24. Have a campfire on an American beach.
25. Learn basic French.
Who: With Georgina (dance instructor), Dad, Barb (Bonus-Mom).
What: Cha-Cha, Rumba!!
When: Saturday evenings starting 09/03/2012.
Where: Julia's Dance Studio in Norman, OK.
Who: Danny Pestock, Sean Wyatt, Brad Hudspeth
What: 9mm, 45, Magnum
When: October 9, 2011
Where: The Bullethole in Shawnee Mission, KS.
28. Jump through a waterfall.
29. Do a series of self-portrait paintings.
30. Completely redo a room.
31. Jump on a hotel bed in a foreign country.
32. See the Mayan Ruins.
33. Celebrate Thanksgiving with strangers.
34. Help with a charity benefit.
35. Have a dance party in the rain.
Who: With Dad, Barb (Bonus-Mom), Ramsey (brother), Miriel (brother's girlfriend).
What: 4 mile hike to the top.
When: Spring Break 2012.
Where: Tent Rocks in New Mexico.
Who: Brenda (aunt), Ramsey (brother)
What: Art Gallery
When: May 29, 2011
Where: Chicago Art Institute in Chicago, IL.
38. Work in a soup kitchen.
39. Sell a piece of artwork (or a few).
40. Write and record (a) song(s) with my brother's band.
41. Take a course at a university that isn't required.
42. Hike through a rain forest...without being injested by a snake or bitten by poisonous spiders.
43. Adopt (a) pet(s).
Who: With The Stumblers.
What: Blues set.
When: July 8, 2011.
Where: (Not a dive bar, but you could bring your own drinks!) Lion's Park in Norman, OK.
45. Get into grad school...go to grad school...graduate from grad school.
46. Take a hip-hop dance class, and use some moves to groove in a circle of spectators at a night club.
47. Hang with the guys from The Buried Life.
48. Work or volunteer at a zoo.
49. Learn to ski or snowboard.
Who: Dad, Barb (Bonus-Mom), Ramsey (brother), Miriel (brother's girlfriend)
What: Snowboard.
When: Spring Break 2012.
Where: Santa Fe, NM. Ski Santa Fe Mountain.
Who: Dad, Barb (Bonus-Mom), Ramsey (brother), Miriel (brother's girlfriend)
What: Snowboard.
When: Spring Break 2012.
Where: Santa Fe, NM. Ski Santa Fe Mountain.
Who: Bonnie Raitt with Hannah Dunn (best friend from college)
When: August of 2011.
Who: Zac Brown Band with Lucas Peters (boyfriend)
When: May of 2013
To be continued...
