Living In The Present

In a comment on this post of mine, Nicole Fall wrote these wise words:

“One of the aspects of growing older that I find pleasantly surprising is that I am living much more in the present. There are, let's face it, fewer options for our futures from the simple aspect of having less of it. 

Everything I used to do as a younger person was analyzed for its productive use of time and its bearing on where I intended to go in the future (speaking career wise) There was little enjoyment of the present.
 Uncertainty is always with us. Anything else is a fantasy.”

Nicole was in elementary school with me – though I don’t know if she remembers that – and in high school with David. Hi Nicole! (waves to Nicole)

Her words reminded me of a favorite song, written by Phil Ochs in the 1960s. It’s easy when first listening to this song, called “When I’m Gone”, to think it’s a sad song – especially if you know that Ochs died by his own hand. But it’s not. It’s a paean to taking advantage of the here and now: to seek out the beauty, to experience what life has to offer, and most especially, to do what you can to make the world a better place.

Here are two versions of the song. The first is Phil Ochs himself. The second is a folk duo called Magpie, accompanied by Kim and Reggie Harris. I like them both, for different reasons.