Choices
Friday, April 03, 2015"What would you give for your art, David?""I'd give my life."
"When the sun comes up, you'll get your wish. After that, if you like what I've given you, you'll have 200 days to use it - before you die."
On a sunny Sunday morning, my husband and I came across Scott McCloud's The Sculptor on the bestsellers' shelf at our favourite bookstore. Neil Gaiman is quoted on the cover, saying it is "the best graphic novel I've read in years." No dispute there.
The plot seems simple enough - hopeless boy is visited by long-dead uncle who grants his wish of having the power to become an unprecedented artist on the condition that after 200 days he dies. Boy struggles with his art, meets girl through unconventional circumstances, falls in love, and realizes what matters most in this life. It is the beauty of the artwork and the wit in the dialogue that makes this seemingly simple story such a riveting and heartwarming read. I finished it in one afternoon but interpreted the lines and scenes so many ways over a period of so many days.
"Tell me a secret. Something you've never told anyone. Tell me softly even that moth can't hear. After you're gone, I'll carry it inside of me. I'll think of it every day. But when I'm gone, the secret goes with me. Together, we'll let it die, just you and me. Not 'cause we're helpless in the face of time, but because we're giving ourselves to time with all our hearts."
We spend most of our time chasing the things we think matter - money, fame, career, recognition, legacy. We tend to forget how limited our time on this Earth is. We struggle with our choices. We tell ourselves tomorrow will be better, that we can catch up with life someday. Then, we wake up and realize that that someday was yesterday and that today is almost over. We get to the point of no return and scramble to make up for lost time. And just like that, they're gone. We're gone. Time is up.
We must choose. When we do not choose, we still choose.
I ask myself this question when choosing becomes difficult - if Death is at my doorstep ready to collect my soul, can I tell myself that I am ready to go? Have I made choices that leave me with a sense of contentment and peace, or am I filled with regret and remorse?
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