I always get a little choked up at the end of Dead Poet’s Society. You know, when the boys stand on the desks to show respect for John Keating as he leaves the classroom. In that moment, you realize all that he taught them. He taught them “Carpe Diem! Seize the Day! Suck the marrow out of life! Make your life extraordinary!” He taught them confidence. He taught them to believe in something – starting with themselves.
And I’m like YES! Yes ...
Life is short. Life is filled with precious moments that you either embrace and enjoy … or miss. The good, the bad, and even the annoying, patience-trying moments where you just want to flick someone. Those are what make this LIFE.
Every moment that we are given is a chance to do something good. Or great. Or at least average.
And sometimes… we miss the mark … completely. I know I do.
I have screwed the pooch more times than I care to publicly admit. I have accidentally stained my husband’s face bright pink. I have taken my car to the wrong car dealership and stupidly argued with the lady over a coupon. I have made my husband smell fart-scented laundry soap, and I have even managed to cover an iron in glue. Hell… once, I even mistook my child for a raccoon and asked Hubs to kill it.
It happens.
I accept it. I take responsibility for it. I apologize.
I live. I learn. And I add it to my mile-long list of Crap I Will Never Do Again.
But then I see these …
Giant box of YOLO bracelets at the grocery store register. WTH?
And I think, “No... Mother. F-ing. NO.”
If you have no idea what I am talking about, YOLO is a current viral quote most popular with teenagers and college-aged kids. It stands for You Only Live Once. Which sounds like a GREAT idea to promote with teens, right?
Dear Teenagers,
There are going to be a lot of temptations that you come up against. There are going to be lots of things that people want you to do that sound like fun, but might not be in your best interests. It is REALLY hard to say “No” to these things, but trust me … I’ve been there. I’ve done them. It really isn’t worth it. You Only Live Once. You need to make the most of it. You need to look at each moment as your chance to DO something … to THINK something … to CHANGE something … to BE something. There is so much inside of you. You might not know what it is yet or know what to do with it yet, but I know it is there. We were all put here for a purpose. You Only Live Once. What will you do with the chances that you are being given in your life? Carpe Diem, my friends! Make your life extraordinary!
Much love,
The Rest of Us
Sadly, though, that’s not the message in YOLO. At all.
There are like 95 definitions of it on Urban Dictionary, and pretty much all of them will tell you that it is an excuse used by stupid people for doing dumb shit. And people want to make it synonymous with Carpe Diem, but it’s not. It is nowhere near the same thing.
Carpe Diem encourages people to make the most of every day. It teaches to accept responsibility for choices made and actions taken. But in the instance of YOLO, it is doing something stupid – on purpose – and yelling or hashtagging YOLO after it instead of accepting responsibility for it. Unfortunately, people are using #YOLO to act like a complete douche-canoes. It is kind of like the new “What.everrrrr.”
· Unprotected sex? YOLO!
· Drinking and driving? YOLO!
· Jump off balcony trying to hit hotel swimming pool? YOLO!
· Stealing your parents’ car? YOLO!
In Dead Poet’s Society, Keating even says, “Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone.” I wish these YOLOers would choke. Seriously. Is that a terrible thing to say? At some point, though, Darwin’s Law of Natural Selection needs to kick in.
And you know, I really have no problem with people who want to do stupid stuff. I don’t. I have seen Jackass. I have laughed my butt off at it (not that you can tell by its current size, but trust me. I have.) And they made millions doing the same kind of crap. But you know what they didn’t do? They didn’t hashtag a #yolo on it like a twatwaffle.
Wanna set your pants on fire? Go for it. Don’t try to put it out with your Long Island Iced Tea. Or do … YOLO, right?
Wanna try walking over hot coals even after the first 20 people got burned? Great. Yeah, maybe THIS time it will be different. You MUST be just that freaking awesome. And if you do end up burning the crap out of your feet, hey, there’s the hospital room to take care of your third degree burns because, after all, YOLO!
Wanna hire a live alligator for your child’s birthday party? DO IT. You swim first. Show us how it is done!! Please. After you.
Wanna call 911 THREE times because you think Subway is making your sandwich wrong? The sandwich you didn’t bother making at home yourself? YOLO!! How can you eat a sandwich when it doesn’t have the correct mustard to mayo ratio? I mean really. Yeah … enjoy that prison food. I bet Subway doesn’t sound so bad right about now, does it?
Wanna cannonball into a frozen pool? YES!! But please, please put it on video. Because odds are, you are going to lose more parts than a leper on a pogo stick, and I WANT TO SEE THAT.
But seriously …
Please don’t sell your random YOLO crap as if it is socially acceptable and something to shoot for in life. It’s not. We should be doing everything in our power to teach our kids personal integrity and responsibility.
If you wanna wake up, squeeze into some skinny jeans, pop the collar on your polo, and put on some hipster glasses that you don’t even need to act like a moron … Great.
You won’t need any YOLO accessories for the rest of us to know you’re an assclown.
I promise.
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