The other day I watched an old Twilight Zone episode that never fails to make me cry. It’s called “Time Enough at Last” and (spoiler alert!) It’s about a Walter Mitty type guy who works at a bank, but his true love is reading. Every day at lunch hour he sneaks down into the vault and reads. At home his shrew of a wife berates him for reading. One day, he’s on his lunch break in the vault, and the world is completely destroyed by an H bomb. He of course, survives as he’s in the vault. He crawls out, surveys the wreckage, discovers he’s all alone, despairs, for a while, then finds a library and realizes that he’ll be able to cope after all, because he’ll be able to read. He settles in, as if for a long winter’s nap, and at that moment his coke bottle glasses fall off his face and shatter. And that’s when he realizes he’ll never be able to read again. That’s when I cry.
I used to think I was crying because I love to read, too, and can’t imagine a life without books. While that still holds true, I now know that the reason for my tears is something deeper. We all have a reason for being. For him, it was reading. For you it might be discovering a new type of orchid or making the perfect wedding cake. It’s different for all of us, and no reason is superior to any other. But I believe that until you know what your reason for being is, you can’t truly live a full life. Without your purpose, you have no motivation.
My reason for being is travel. It has to do with this family trait called “Enthusiosity” that I’ve blogged about previously. I was born to find out what’s beyond the next horizon. I want to know how people in different cultures live their daily lives. When I travel, I am truly alive. I’ve been to 18 countries so far, and have explored a great deal of my own. Circumstances have made it impossible for me to travel in the past 4 years, and that’s my own private version of hell on earth. I can only hope things will improve in the future. But at least I know my purpose. That’s a starting point.
You have to have a starting point to run the race of life. Ready. Set. Go!
The View from a Drawbridge 
Good post. But look on the bright side. If his vision is that bad, he will starve to death fairly quickly without his glasses… so… I hope that cheered you up.
You’re one of those “glass is half full” guys, aren’t you? I can tell.
Even before I get the glass I can already see that it is going to be empty sooner than I would like it to be… so… no.
Awwww…:(
I know… it is the Celtic darkness in my soul…
Thanks for talking about this episode of the Twilight Zone. I don’t think it gets nearly the appreciation it deserves. I’ve always thought it was the most disturbing one – even more than William Shatner seeing a monster on the wings of the airplane! I share your enthusiasm for travel, learning new things and finding out about other cultures – and I enjoy that you’ve coined the term “enthusiosity” – I hope the word, and the philosophy, catches on! (In fact, when you write a book – that might be a good title!!)
Thanks Liz. Yes, It gives me the chills. I’ll take the book title under advisement. 🙂