This weekend I went back to Plano for the fourth of July weekend. It's amazing how everything you know and are familiar with can change in an instant.



While I was in Dallas, I re-watched the movie Limitless.







The premise of the movie hinges upon our desires to do more, and be more. We don't reach our "potential" so we need to take a pill to get there.



I was staying at my friend's and after the movie was over we just started talking.

One thing that came up in the conversation was how much he wishes he could do all the things the protagonist did in the movie.



Once the movie ended, I started thinking about all the "potential" we as humans have.

We have it in abundance, and yet we waste it by being idle, indecisive, and just plain lazy.



My friend this summer? Spends most of his time smoking weed. Not that I have anything against weed; it's just it's just a vicious cycle, giving a temporary high as an escape, while costing him upwards of 60$ or more.



This is why I like graveyards and cemeteries. Rather than thinking of them as place of the dead and macabre, I always feel inspired walking through them. Both my father and grandfather passed away before my 19th birthday, and I've always taken that as something of motivation.







Johnathan Hunt, 1945-2008? What was his life like? Did he love? Did he go through the same old routine day-by-day? Did he yearn for more?

Happy Fourth of July Everyone!





My father was 44 when he passed, my grandfather in his mid eighties. Two different ends of the spectrum; yet none of us have anything guaranteed.I wanted to juxtapose the somber image of death with the vivaciousness of July 4th.Because every time I go to the cemetery to visit, I can always hear one simple motif floating around in the air.The dead are indifferent. They are fully aware that one day you and I will be mere history. They don't care about that new car, the upcoming test, or whether or not that pretty girl likes you or not. We, the living, have the privilege to care. We have opportunity.And yet we're living on one big time constraint that gets smaller and smaller each day.We don't have tomorrow or yesterday. We have today; the here and now. Too many times we pass up opportunities, waiting for the perfect moment.My friend when asked on why he doesn't want to change his life?We don't need a pill!The cemeteries are full of people who spent their entire lives waiting for that perfect moment, only to find that it never came. I say, perhaps, it came and they never took the chance.Gravestones are always enigmatic.I'll never know, but every time I see a gravestone I can't help but smile. The ball is in my court now. Will I meet life's challenges?Will I risk rejection in order to be authentic? Will I push myself to meet the people I find attractive? Or will I sit back, wait, and one day pass from this world with regret?More importantly, what will you doI'm sure if we could talk to the dead they would tell us to go for it. Eventually we'll all turn to dust.I left my friend this morning with a few words of encouragement.As I got into the car, he said,I simply responded,I love the dead. They inspire. They lead by example. They remind me to live every day to the best of my abilities. Because one day I will join their ranks in eternal sleep.People must think I’m strange when they spot the smile on my face as I walk out from between the gates of cemetery.