Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 1,800 poems in her lifetime and she died at 56: my age now. Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind lived to age 49. Jack London wrote The Call of the Wild at age 27 and died at 40, as did Edgar Allan Poe. Walt Whitman was 73 when he died, though he looks 103 in his photo. Life was harder on people, or authors anyway, in the 19th century. I'm thankful I didn't live then!
Not meaning to obsess over death. But - pardon the cliche - life is short. While God knows the number of my days, it's up to me to serve Him and pursue the passions and gifts He's chosen to give me. And - most challenging at times for me - use my time wisely.
Speaking of time: did you know that Mark Twain's autobiography was just published? He died in 1910 and Twain's will stated that his autobiography could not be published until 100 years after his death. My brother Pat shared this with me.
2 comments:
I heard that he delayed the publication because he didn't want those he offended in the autobiography to know about his harsh words. Maybe he thought it would get forgotten altogether.
My brother says that much of it is like reading a textbook. Not sure it'll be on my reading list!
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