Tell me not in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act that each tomorrow

Find us farther than today.

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, how'er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act--act in the living Present,

Heart within and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the Sannds of time,

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing

Learn to labour and to wait.

--By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 'A Psalm of Life.'

Life is such a fragile, fleeting thing. One moment, you're alive and well, and the next, you might just be lying on the floor, breathing your last.

All it takes is one bullet, one blade, a sip too much of alcohol, and you're dead. Or even half a mile too long, one year of living too many, one year too many of taking up space on this earth, and you're gone.

We are such fragile beings. Life is such a delicate thing of beauty. I don't understand why so many people look to committing suicide these days. If you think about it, suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem; the easy way out, if you will. What is more, with your death, you will hurt many other people because even though your problems have ended,your loved ones and those you left behind will be burdened all your problems, as well as the pain and knowledge that you've gone, and won't be back ever again. In my mind, there is no such thing as the dead end road, a tunnel with no light. Even if you do face a wall, knock the damn wall down, dig under it, scale it, walk around it, chisel it apart millimetre by millimetre if you have to, just don't turn around and leave without properly looking at the wall.

Of course, there may be some problems that seem huge and menacing to the individual person. To that person, it might block out their sun, eclipse their lights, and tower above them. But, if they were to compare their problems with someone else's, and if that person wasn't incredibly self-centred, they would realise that their problems seem much smaller when they comfort and care for someone else.

I don't know about you, but I would much rather face a problem head on than turn tail and place myself at the butcher's chopping board. It makes the problem easier to solve, somehow.

Life is so fleeting, so brief and fragile. It is like a snowflake, drifting down from the sky, with only a brief moment to show its gentle beauty before it sinks into the ground with the others. It is like some beautiful, sleek creature of ice. Cold, gleaming, and glorious, yet so delicate. One slip, one cut deep enough, and it will fall, and scatter into a million diamond pieces. It is like a brief shower, cool glistening beads sent from the heavens. Short but tantalising, a few seconds worth of treasures before they shatter on the ground.

Life is brief. It is only now that I truly understand what the phrase, 'Live life to the fullest, live everyday as if it were your last.' means.

Life is brief, but life is always changing, people can never stop making ripples. These ripples may inadvertedly affect you. People change, life is full of changes, accept this.

If you wish to spend your life heaping depression and distress upon yourself, if you wish to bog yourself down in sadness and misinterpretation, and stay there, then so be it. It may be that you can live so, but I cannot.

If you were to die tomorrow, would you regret what you had done today?

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