Bucket Lists and Other Thoughts

A friend sent me this:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
                     T.S. Eliot “Little Gidding” Four Quartets.

T.S. Eliot has long been a favorite poet of mine - I find much truth in his poetry and essays - made my students struggle through some of it for their own sakes. Remember "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"?
Eliot's "Little Gidding" passage is a profound statement about the meaning of life and how it ought to develop: more powerful than most concepts such as the bucket list. Of course, it would depend if that bucket list changes as we change.

I know this - very few items I had on my forty-year-old's list remain there today. Most of them were still there at sixty, but in my heart I knew I might possibly be fooling myself  to think I still wanted to learn Mandarin,  climb Mt Fuji, or marry again.

Wanting to achieve my PhD, and see my collection of poetry published, and my novel - oh, and my memoir as well, why not?, still lurk on my list while a scoffer I choose not to confront sits on my shoulder and laughs loudly, "What, are you - nuts?"

What's on your lists? The concept seems to vary with language. Spanish speakers call the bucket list either Ahora o Nunca, or Antes de Partir, that is "now or never" or "before leaving." Germans say Das Beste Kommt zum Schluss - "the best comes at the end."  The French concept appeals to me most - San plus attendre - "without further waiting." Because I didn't heed that imperative, items had to be dropped off. Incidentally - my list is mental, always has been. If you've written yours down - maybe you'll do better with it - actually checking off items.

Written or not, everyone needs a list. It helps you prioritize the events in your life even thinking about it.