Movers and Shakers

The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living? 

Worth. That’s a word that carries so much weight. In our society worth is determined in countless ways, which makes achieving it so much harder. How does one achieve a life that has value? Money, family, self-respect, gaining the respect of others, professional developments…the list could go on and on. I can’t answer this question without defining that word. Worth. And I don’t agree with any of those definitions either. So, I’ll make my own.

A life worth living means acceptance. Not a passive or submissive type of acceptance, but a progressive one. Sure, this is a contradiction, but that’s okay because most things in life are. Think about it. Progressive acceptance. It makes sense. It means understanding something and accepting it as truth, while still working to change it for the better. And as it changes, more acceptance and understanding is required, which makes the whole thing a grand process. When that starts happening is when life gains value. But acceptance can’t just happen. That’d be meaningless. To accept truth, it has to be examined from every possible angle. It has to be analyzed, critiqued, and seriously questioned. For a life to be worth living, acceptance has to happen, meaning that the truth has to be examined. That’s the only way.

I’ve thought about this. My ideas may not be clear and my words are definitely clumsy. It’s hard to understand, but it’s definitely possible. I’ve examined this. Have you?

Gadfly

That’s such a weird word. So I’m going to use another word that to me, has the same meaning. Shaker. 

“We are the music-makers, 


And we are the dreamers of dreams, 


Wandering by lone sea-breakers, 


And sitting by desolate streams. 


World-losers and world-forsakers, 


Upon whom the pale moon gleams; 


Yet we are the movers and shakers, 


Of the world forever, it seems.”

 – from “We Are the Music-Makers” by Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy

This poem says it all. Shakers are the minority in our society and commonly oppressed out of fear. Why fear Shakers? Because of what a Shaker does. A Shaker is a person who ruffles the feathers of the flock and dares to fly the other way. Shakers examine life and propose change. Shakers set things in motion. 

My Eulogy

Leslie did not really know who she was. Not completely at least. Leslie knew this and she valued it. The idea that she was still growing, the idea that she always would grow and learn. The idea that each day shaped her life, her thoughts, her feelings, and her beliefs. Leslie was not afraid to crash through life. She made big jumps. Of course there were times when she stumbled and failed, but that’s just how things work. Leslie’s knowledge that she was still figuring herself out made it easy for her to make mistakes. It even made the mistakes in her life valuable, as long as she learned something from them.

Even though Leslie was still figuring herself out, she knew who she was and where she was going. It is a paradoxical idea, but it’s true. She moved with the rhythm of her soul. She was who she wanted to be. She was shaped by her experiences and by the people she surrounded herself with while still maintaining a strong sense of self. One of Leslie’s favorite quotes was “those that were seen dancing were thought insane by those that could not hear the music,” and she applied that idea to her everyday life. “Dancing” as herself, both literally and figuratively.

Leslie started taking dance classes when she was only 3 years old. Her dedication took her many places and taught her values that could only be learned in the studio. Her love for dance was altered through the years, but it always prevailed. Leslie was a dancer in the truest sense. She used her body to convey ideas when words failed.

One of the most important things about Leslie’s life was that she did not live it for spectacle. Her life was balanced, without being mundane. Elegant without being flashy. Leslie was a constant shimmer of rhythm and that’s how she will always remain.