I've never understood how people could get so upset over the deaths of people they didn't know. Now I understand. They aren't really strangers. They become a part of your life in so many little ways. I never got the chance to meet Jimmy but I felt like I knew him. Through stories and music and a million other ways. It feels like I've lost someone I knew well and cared for deeply.
Jimmy always seemed so vibrant and alive, in a way that most people will never know. Life was something to be lived to the fullest and that's exactly what he did. He never pretended to be something he wasn't. In a world full of pomp and deceit, he seemed so genuine and real.
If there's one thing we should all take from this, its that we should love ourselves. So often, people will tell you who you should be or how you should act. Don't let them do that. Don't let them take from you who you are. In a world where there's so little love, the very least we can do is love ourselves. Sometimes its hard. The world seems to work against you and seeks to pull you down. Don't give them that satisfaction. Just think of Jimmy running around in his orange kimono.
And, secondly, live life to the fullest. I know its cliche but things like this remind us that life is so very fleeting. Death takes us all in the end. We have to take everything we can from life while we can. You never know when the end will come. Jimmy went knowing that he did what he loved. How many of us can say that? We drift through life doing what's easiest because so many of us are afraid to do what we want. What will make us happy. How many of us would be satisfied with our lives if we were to die now? Let Jimmy be an example. Seize your happiness while you can. Do what you want, what makes you happy. Don't settle for anything in life. Make the most of it that you can.
Jimmy will forever live in our hearts. Our world was brighter with him in it, let his example carry that light on.
How Is Your Heart?
during the worst of times
on the park benches
in the jails
or living with
whores
I always had this certain
contentment-
I wouldn't call it happiness-
it was more of an inner balance
that settled for
whatever was occuring
and it helped in the
factories
and when relationships
went wrong with the girls.
it helped
through the
wars and the
hangovers
the back alley fights
the
hospitals
to awaken in a cheap hotel room
in a strange city and
pull up the shade-
this is the craziest kind of contentment
and to walk across the floor
to an old dresser with
a cracked mirror-
see myself, ugly,
grinning at it all
what matters most is
how well you
walk through the
fire
-Charles Bukowski
Jimmy, you walked through the fire like a hero. May the fire lead you home...
