...Make Your Lives Extraordinary

"In life, you [gotta] carpe diem that shit. You sleep, you're dead."
-Duke Senior Bill Gerrish ('05) on why he wakes up early to tailgate.

TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME.
by Robert Herrick


GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying :
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer ;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may go marry :
For having lost but once your prime
You may for ever tarry.

I don't think I need to explain too much of this post are explain what I want you to get out of it or what it means to me- it's quite obvious and quite brilliant and so beautiful. I will say though that though I don't really like Robin Williams this is one of those roles you can't help but love. From Dead Poet's Society:

    Keating
  "Oh Captain, My Captain" who knows where
  that comes from?

    KEATING
  Not a clue? It's from a poem by Walt
  Whitman about Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Now in
  this class you can call me Mr. Keating. Or,
  if you're slightly more daring, Oh Captain,
  My Captain.


    KEATING
  Now let me dispel a few rumors so they
  don't fester into facts. Yes, I too
  attended Hell-ton and survived. And no,
  at that time I was not the mental giant
  you see before you. I was the intellectual
  equivalent of a ninety-eight pound
  weakling. I would go to the beach and
  people would kick copies of Byron in my
  face.

    KEATING
  Now, Mr… Pitts. That's a rather
  unfortunate name. Mr. Pitts, where are
  you?

    KEATING
Mr. Pitts, would you open your hymnal to page 542 and read the first
stanza of the poem you find there?

    PITTS
  "To the virgins, to make much of time"?

    KEATING
  Yes, that's the one. Somewhat appropriate,
  isn't it.

    PITTS
  "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old
  time is still a flying, and this same
  flower that smiles today, tomorrow will
  be dying."

    KEATING
  Thank you Mr. Pitts. "Gather ye rosebuds
  while ye may." The Latin term for that
  sentiment is Carpe Diem. Now who knows
  what that means?

    MEEKS
  Carpe Diem. That's "seize the day."

    KEATING
  Very good, Mr.-

    MEEKS
  Meeks.

    KEATING
  Meeks. Another unusual name. Seize the
  day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
  Why does the writer use these lines?

    CHARLIE
  Because he's in a hurry.

    KEATING
  No, ding!


    KEATING
  Thank you for playing anyway. Because we
  are food for worms lads. Because, believe
  it or not, each and every one of us in
  this room is one day going to stop
  breathing, turn cold, and die.

Keating turns towards the trophy cases, filled with trophies, footballs,
and team pictures.

    KEATING
  Now I would like you to step forward over
  here and peruse some of the faces from
  the past. You've walked past them many
  times. I don't think you've really looked
  at them.

The students slowly gather round the cases and Keating moves behind them.

    KEATING
  They're not that different from you, are
  they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones,
  just like you. Invincible, just like you
  feel. The world is their oyster. They
  believe they're destined for great things,
  just like many of you. Their eyes are full
  of hope, just like you. Did they wait until
  it was too late to make from their lives
  even one iota of what they were capable?
  Because you see gentlemen, these boys are
  now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen
  real close, you can hear them whisper their
  legacy to you. Go on, lean in.

    KEATING
       (whispering in a gruff voice)
  Carpe.

    KEATING
  Hear it?
       (whispering again)
  Carpe. Carpe Diem. Seize the day boys,
  make your lives extraordinary.

  The boys stare at the faces in the cabinet in silence.

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