“Oh Sandy, the aurora is risin’ behind us. The angels have lost their desire for us, I spoke to ’em just last night and they said they won’t set themselves on fire for us anymore.”
I don’t think Springsteen had the recent destruction of the superstorm in mind when he sang goodbye to his adopted home town of Asbury Park in the song, “Sandy.” However, seeing the bleak images of the ravaged Jersey shore fill my TV screen, it’s surreal to think that we almost said goodbye to several of the seaside towns that dot the eastern seaboard. I spent 24 hours without power sitting in my sub 60° apartment bundled in a hat and hooded sweatshirt and felt extremely fortunate compared to the woeful fate others had to endure. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the New York/New Jersey area. It might be time for Bruce to give it a rest with his free political concerts and focus his efforts on something more constructive that will benefit his fellow neighbors. Something tells me that he’ll be doing such a thing in the very near future.
It’s somewhat eerie that Sandy chose to visit us when she did. After all, today is Halloween, the time of the year when it’s commonplace to find oneself surrounded by images and themes meant to elicit fear and in some cases conjure up thoughts of death. But perhaps it’s not necessarily the worst idea to take a moment today to reflect on the morose topic of our own mortality. I found myself doing this Monday evening after I read an interesting blog written by Brett & Kate McKay. The authors were writing about a particular genre of art, memento mori, which refers to artworks that vary widely but which all share the same common purpose: to remind people of their mortality, an artistic theme dating back to antiquity.
Memento mori is Latin for “Remember death.” The phrase is believed to originate from an ancient Roman tradition in which a servant would be tasked with standing behind a victorious general as he paraded through town. As the general basked in the glory of the cheering crowds, the servant would whisper in the general’s ear: “Respice post te! Hominem te esse memento! Memento mori!” = “Look behind you! Remember that you are but a man! Remember that you will die!”
Memento mori. Remember that you will die.
As the authors point out, we don’t like to think too much about death. It’s a bit too depressing and morbid for our think-positive sensibilities. Our culture is devoted to perpetuating the lie that you can stay young forever and your life will go on and on. But for men living in antiquity all the way up until the beginning of the 20th century, rather than being a downer, death was seen as a motivator to live a good, meaningful, and virtuous life. To help men remember death, artists created paintings, sculptures, and mosaics depicting skulls, skeletons, and other symbols of death. Churches would display memento mori art to compel viewers to meditate on death, reflect on their lives, and re-dedicate themselves to preparing to meet God. Devout Christians would often ask that their tomb or grave marker have some sort of skeleton motif on it to remind their visiting family members to get right with God before they too bit the dust.
Personally, I find the origin of this artwork a pretty interesting study, and while it comes off as quite macabre, it is also fascinating to understand the purpose and meaning of how and why this artwork evolved. All of us can definitely take a page from history the next time we find ourselves confronted with the image of a skull or skeleton. Instead of focusing on the ghoulish nature of them, let them help remind you that you’re dying daily, and encourage you to quit wasting your life away on stupid stuff, and motivate you to start living the life you want now. Like the McKays suggest, I would also encourage you to ask yourself if you are dedicating your life primarily to activities and things that will simply fade away like smoke and bubbles or making the most of your life by creating a legacy that will live beyond the grave?
Memento mori.
Stand Strong!
Scott
Thank you for sharing and reminding us that we need to take each day and make it the absolute best for those around us.
God bless
good read scott, the saddest time in my life was when i could of done more for people around me and found myself wanting to do more and end up idle most of the time( depressed).. one morning reading the Bible it spoke to me about idleness.. so i begun to do for others in secret.. prayer is huge in my life, it’s something i can do for people all over the world and cost me nothing.. i may not have the physical way to help but Prayer i can do.. being idle caused me to be depressed.. when i joined Jesus’s family He changed my life.. He began to take the things out of my life He couldn’t use and began putting the things He can use into my life.. i find myself reading His word regularly and praying every day.. when i do this for others i feel better about myself.. i now find myself sharing Jesus with people of all ages often.. i have learned that not all people are ready for Jesus so i let the Holy Spirit water the seeds i have planted until the day their ready to join the family.. something else i have learned is helping in secret as the Bible speaks about.. serving in secret relieves me of needing a thank you.. helping people that are in the real need area is who we all should help.. using the Blessings Our Lord has given us to help others is what gives us the Real Joy most of us need more of.. scott, you are bringing joy to all of us who know you and read your articles, you are a Blessing !!
Great thought to ponder – I hope we are all creating that legacy that will live beyond the grave!
Happy All Saints Day!
God Bless You – Mary
Very insightful Scott, I hope everyone reads this !
As they say, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”. Happy Halloween!!
Such valuable and relevant thoughts. It is unfortunate that it often takes a crisis for us to realize the life is about more than”us” and that there is so much we can do to help others and leave our mark.
Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful posts.
With boundless love and admiration , Aunt Marilou