A Cause To Live For

Hey guys. So this weekend, I'll be going to a weekend camp retreat. Seeing as how it is a retreat and all, I'm not allowed to carry my laptop, cause well, tech kinda defeats the whole purpose of going to camp in the country. As such, I won't be posting anything tomorrow. However, since I have my laptop here at school today, I figure that I could probably post something while I'm here.

I was about to name one of the characters in my play Jacob (which I happen to be re-writing again), when I remembered the faux monopoly that the Twilight series seems to have on the name. So, on a whim, I decided to go look up what Jacob means to see if it would be appropriate to still have it in my play. It turns out that the name means "heel-puller" since apparently, the biblical Jacob came out of the womb holding on to his twin brother's heel. For some reason, it wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be. The thing is, that in my searching, I came across the name of his wife: Rachel. And, as I do anytime I happen to be on Wikipedia, I went along and searched for stuff just because it was there to be searched. Cutting a long search story of the "Rachel" short (which include me reading the biography of the Animorph character) I came across the name "Rachel Aliene Corrie."

Do you know who she is? No? Well, neither did I. Turns out she was a 23 year old American art student, who died after being crushed by a bulldozer in Gaza (the real Gaza, not the dumb dancehall version). She was part of an ISM (International Solidarity Movement) who were protesting the demolition of homes by the Israeli Defense Force. She was using her body as a human shield by kneeling in front of the bulldozer. Whether the machine had rolled over her and crushed her by accident or on purpose, is still left to argument. Her death was treated as a martyrdom by those who supported her cause. The story spread, even spawning a movie.

But, that's it. I don't mean to look down on her sacrifice. Her death brought her cause to the front, but with her gone, it would eventually die away. People would forget, and the world would keep turning. We won't remember her in a few years. We all like the dark romance the accompanies martyrdom, the fame and nobility it wears. But when we're dead, there is nothing we can do. It's like a star bursting into a supernova. All sound and fury and then it's gone. That's how dying for something is.

We should instead aspire to live for something. A star like ours may not be as spectacular in the Universe, but it keeps us alive. A supernova couldn't do that. Living for a something may not get you as popular as dying for something may, and you may not even see the impact. But you can do so much more in your lifetime, reach so many people and grow and become better at what you do. You may not be remembered, but your effects would be felt for years and years to come.