Comfort or Courage? A Look at Carpe Diem
In Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams’ character, John Keating, tells his students, “Thoreau said ‘Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.’ Don’t be resigned to that. Break out” (Schulman). John Keating’s main goal throughout the movie is to inspire his students to break out of their comfort zones and do something more with their lives by embracing Carpe Diem. How well a person fulfills their life seems to have a cause and effect relationship with that person’s comfort level: The more comfort they feel, the less fulfilled their life will be. So is comfort really as desirable as we make it out to be?
The Latin phrase, “Carpe Diem,” translates into “seize the day,” which seems far-fetched if we get too comfortable with our lives getting stuck in loop. Many of us feel content with our daily routines that often consist of us doing the same thing each and every day: Wake up. Go to work. Come home. Do more work. Go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Can w really believe that life is meant to be so predictable? The comfort we feel from being accustomed to our daily rituals actually holds us back, stops us from making progress, from making changes, from Carpe-ing the Diem.
Robert Frost’s famous poem, The Road Not Taken, tells us: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference” (lines 18-20). When it comes to the topics of Carpe Diem and comfort, this poem has a very important meaning that is crucial we understand. Robert Frost’s quote does not need to represent a major life decision as we often assume when we read it. This could rather represent a series of small decisions we make each and every day. After all, that is what Carpe Diem is all about. If each morning we choose to “take the road less traveled by,” our experiences would change completely. A single change each day, whether it be something small like trying a new restaurant or something huge like deciding to change your occupation, can enhance a lifestyle dramatically.
Furthermore, Carpe Diem can be seen as the act of making changes, whether they are big or small. We make these changes when we are told to “seize the day” because Carpe Diem clarifies what is truly valuable in life. Steve Jobs once stated in a commencement speech at
Stanford, “... for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something” (4).
Consider the past day, week, or even month. Would you be satisfied
with any of those days being your last? I can say, without a doubt, that I would not because I have lived day after day without anything truly memorable happening. Many of us, myself included, become comfortable with these ritualistic lifestyles without even realizing how we could otherwise be spending our time. The truth is, a majority of us would be unsatisfied with how we spent today if we found out it was our last, which is a direct result of getting too comfortable.
Some people may argue that they don’t have time for Carpe Diem because their schedules are so jam-packed, usually with work. But isn’t
there more to life than just working? Perhaps we are missing the true purpose of life and won’t fully understand it until we make a change. It’s also possible that we just prefer to stay in our comfort zones to avoid unpredictable outcomes. But that’s the thing. We can’t assume that if something is unpredictable it is bound to end badly. We never know what will happen when we do something that makes us uncomfortable, but if we try, something magnificent could happen.
In the end, it is all about what kind of life you want to make for yourself. Do you have the courage to let loose and see what happens? Or do you want to stay comfortable and live a routine-oriented life? Patrick Dempsey’s character, Derek Shepherd, from Grey’s Anatomy says it perfectly: “The human life is made up of choices. Yes or no? In or out? Up or down? And then there are the choices that matter: to love or hate, to be a hero or to be a coward, to fight or to give in, to live or die” (Rhimes). Some decisions may not matter, but here’s an important one, especially when it comes to Carpe Diem: comfort or courage? We must decide now because time will not wait.
Watch Grey's Anatomy Season 6 Episode 24, "Death and All His Friends" for more!
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