“A person can stand almost anything except a succession of ordinary days.

”
-Joseph Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I found the above quote in a student planner produced by my high school. There was a place each week
for an inspirational epithet on the page, often having to do with pushing oneself to get better and strive for
greatness. I would read the quotes each week and dismiss each of them as nothing more than the school’s
pathetic attempt to raise grades. On the particular week in which I read the above quote, I had to stop and read
through it again. Here was something that, instead of inspiring a derisive snort, actually spoke to me – because
it was so true.

In the great comedy ‘Community’ on NBC, starring Joel McHale, there was a professor that taught a
class about simply seizing the day – carpe diem. Jeff Winger, McHale’s character, enrolled in this class with his
study group in the hopes of earning an easy A. After all, it’s incredibly easy to seize the day, right? As Winger
soon discovers, that line of thinking is very wrong.

As a culture, I think we have a problem with living life to the fullest consistently, or even at all. Day-to-
day life is so easily eaten up with mindless routine: job, lunch, work out, homework, television, reading the
newspaper, eating out. We make lists to organize our endless activities. We often prioritize the advancement of
our careers over family and friends. We are veritable slaves to our planners and calendars.

How does this relate to the above quote? Routine makes life incredibly dull, and when life becomes dull
and predictable, apathy sets in. I liken apathy to the feeling of sitting on the couch watching a television show,
with the thought in your mind that you should be doing something of substance, but you simply cannot bring
yourself to get up.

Avenged Sevenfold’s song, aptly titled “Seize the Day,” paints a cold, desolate picture of a world in
which the extraordinary has slipped away: Seize the day, or die regretting the time you lost / it’s empty, and
cold without you here, too many people to ache over. Now, here’s the interesting part: how many of you believe
that you live life to the fullest every day? I know I don’t. The reason for this is complacency, one of the greatest
evils in modern life. Complacency drives us to sit around, doing the bare minimum to get by. Complacency
stops us from stepping outside our comfort zone and asking that cute girl out on a date. Complacency stops us
from taking that trip to the Middle East or going skydiving with a group of friends. Am I going to die regretting
time I have lost? Are you?

It is a day-to-day struggle. Days don’t transform from ordinary into extraordinary by themselves. It takes
work from oneself. To quote a character from the Harry Potter universe, “CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” – but
N. Schwab | 1
21 Sep 2010
this is a different sort of vigilance: vigilance against oneself and self-created complacency. The way to remain
under constant vigilance varies from person to person. For some, it may be a daily reminder written on a post-it
note. For others, it might be a morning walk with coffee to clear their head. The latter certainly works for me.
However, the act of slowing down and thinking is not in itself seizing the day. For me, this is simply a conduit
to allow the ideas to flow, ideas that remove the monotony from my life. Try it sometime.

I’ve laid out what can be done individually. However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t make remarks on the
larger picture. Do we live in a culture that encourages ordinary days? I’d argue yes. The two greatest culture
values in the United States are, arguably, money and power. This is certainly a cynical view, but suppose for a
moment it is true. In order to enrich our lives on a grander scale, we would have to fundamentally change the
culture. If there was a greater emphasis placed on happiness instead of power, would our actions change on a
day-to-day basis? Might we let that damn work presentation go unattended, quit the job we hate, and take more
time out to enjoy life?

My dad wrote a personal seventy-page letter to me this year to take to college. I keep it just to my left on my
desk shelf. In it, he talks at length about today’s culture:

I have a real aversion for the fast-paced, consumer-driven, information-overload culture in which we
currently live. We are being bombarded daily by so much information. We’re told how we should live,
what we should buy, how we can improve ourselves, what we should eat, how we should look, what we
should wear…and the list goes on. At times I just want to stop the world and get off.

He goes on to say that at the heart of a simplified lifestyle, one should reduce material possessions and
encourage charity, maintain order, manage one’s time, and follow one’s passions, well, passionately. My
parents certainly lead a simple lifestyle in comparison to many adults I know, and I respect them for it. They are
truly happy and tend to live their lives the way they want to, without being swayed by cultural values. They are
counter-culture. My dad quit a high-paying business management job (because it was eroding his health and
happiness) to move down to a lower-paying position, and he’s never been happier. I respect him greatly for this.

Whatever the method that works for you, I encourage you to try to step outside your comfort zone for
just one week. Try putting power and wealth behind you. Make every day extraordinary. See how it changes
your perspective. I know I’m still working at it. Let’s see if we can do it together, and maybe change the world
a bit. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

N. Schwab | 2
21 Sep 2010