Do It, I Dare You.
There's no “accidental” when it comes to living your life to the fullest. You know in the moment when you’re living the most.To live a life that you’re satisfied with, don’t let others take control. There is only one way to interact with Carpe Diem and that’s to go out and purposefully find it/reach it. Neil Perry was fed up with his father controlling his life and took charge. While it didn’t end well for him, Neil ended his life with no regrets.
An american poet who embraces Carpe Diem and living deliberately is Mr. Thoreau. Henry David Thoreau almost fears regret and that’s something I can relate to. In Walden, Thoreau had wrote, “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived” (Thoreau). Laying on your deathbed, the last thing you want to be doing is regretting the stuff you didn’t do, you should be reminiscing the good times and the times you took the chances you were afraid to take. But took them anyway. Walt Whitman was also a
symbol of deliberate Carpe Diem. Carpe Diem is a latin word at it’s essence meaning to “seize the day”. The basis of Whitman’s poems revolve around life’s small pleasures. He forced himself to slow down and appreciate all of it. There’s no excuse available as to why you shouldn’t seize the day today. Whitman thinks you should start now because, “In ordinary life, we are constantly made aware of the limitations of our powers. In this poem, forget the limitations” (Whitman). Despite all the things in life challenging your beliefs and dreams, if you want something, go take action and make a stand for it. That quote can be connected to an eccentric character in the Dead Poets Society. He started off the movie as Charles Dalton but changed his name to Nuwanda by the time the movie finished. His big reveal came as a surprise to us all when he says to the boys, “Guys I have an announcement to make. In keeping with the spirit of passionate experimentation of the Dead Poets, I’m giving up the name Charlie Dalton. From now on, call me Nuwanda” (DPS 1989). Nuwanda is the essence of Carpe Diem in this movie and this is definitely his defining moment. Before he changes his name and right after Keating starts teaching, Charlie knows that he wants to embrace Carpe Diem through the Dead Poets. He readily accepts Keating’s teaching style and encourages the rest of the boys to follow in his footsteps. Nuwanda encouraged Neil to chase his own dreams which inevitably lead to his demise.
Is there a limit to Carpe Diem? While we all should go out and chase our dreams, some of our dreams aren’t healthy for our lifestyle or aren’t feasible to reach. Within politics, some people want to become the president of the United States but some just aren’t cut out for the job and that’s okay. Some dreams are meant to not come true and some dreams aren’t meant to be chased. While some may argue that you should chase after what you want in life even if it’s far out of reach, know your limitations. Is it possible that Carpe Diem is often associated with false hope? Perhaps. Carpe Diem gives people a false sense of hope of reaching their goals but that’s not always a bad thing. The main purpose of Carpe Diem is for people to achieve what they want to achieve in a day/week/year/lifetime. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out the way people want it to and that’s okay
All in all, if you want something done or if you want that feeling of Carpe Diem present in your life, you need to do something about it. It’s not going to knock on your door one day and present itself. Carpe Diem is a way of life that needs to be pursued if it’s presence means something to you.
