Sunday Jack: Dieing Is A Day Worth Living For

This post is going to leave Capt. Jack for a bit and focus on one of my favorite lines in Pirates 3.  It actually is one that Capt. Hector Barbossa says.  If you haven't seen the movie, I'll set the stage for you.  Barbossa is the pirate who led a mutiny against Jack to take command of the Black Pearl.  While in command, he and his crew took cursed Aztec gold from the Isla de Muerta.  The curse they bore was that they could not die nor could they fully live.  The moonlight showed them for the hallow beings they had become with no flesh and no way to feel what humans enjoy feeling.  The curse is broken when all of the pieces of gold are returned to the chest and Jack kills Barbossa.  The sea goddess Calypso brought him back to life.  His greatest fear is of returning to that fate again.

At the end of Pirates 3, the pirates are set against apparently insurmountable odds to go to battle with the English fleet.  They need a pep talk as Barbossa tells Elizabeth that revenge for her father's death isn't something that he is willing to die for.  She replies by asking, "Then what shall we die for?"  She gives a great speech that I'll save for another post.  The pirates head into battle as Barbossa ponders what she said to him.  The waters turn into a maelstrom and they need the best captain to steer the ship:

Elizabeth yells, "Captain Barbossa, We need you at the helm!"

Barbossa, who has been looking at his hand apparently remembering his own death, replies as he turns and grabs the wheel, "Aye, That be true...Brace up yars you cacan of deck apes!  Dieing is a day worth living for!!"

What a great line!  Just think about it for a minute.  We are all going to die.  That and paying taxes are the only sure things it seems.  Is dieing a day worth living for?  Absolutely and I have two trains of thought on that.

The first is what type of a reception do you want on the other side.  What did you do while you were living to warrant your place after death.  Was living worth dieing for to receive your eternal reward?  That is a question that only we can answer ourselves.  I for one want to leave this life with no regrets.  I want to be able to say that I helped everyone that I could, that I was a good mother, that I endured life's trials with dignity and that I have been a "good and faithful" servant.  If I am able to do that, then dieing IS a day worth living for.

The other line of thought is that it really is a tragedy to think that many people are dieing while living.  Sounds strange.  But living must be worth dieing for.  Here's an illustration.  I spent all week at work indoors.  That's a new concept for me because I don't like to remain indoors alot.  I love my job and it is worth living for.  But a visitor to a patient made a comment that caught my attention.  A simple comment of "Oh, it's raining outside."  What?  I realized that I hadn't taken the time to even glance out a window at work all day.  I had spent the week with my head buried in training, reports, and charts.  One of the things I live for wasn't even on the radar...that is...being outside and enjoying the beauty.  I made sure that this weekend, I went to the beach and just sat there to soak it up. 

Those experiences with the people you cherish and the places you love are worth living for.  Try this...insert a word of something that makes you happy into the phrase like "DIVING is a day worth living for!"  If you can't think of something then you bloody well better get a life!  Don't make the mistake of really dieing when you weren't even living.  Because in my opinion, Dieing is a day worth Living for.  Later Mates!