I just had a thought: Life is like jumping out of an airplane. Why?
The analogy assumes that when you jump out of the plane, that's your birth, of course. When you jump off the plane, you see no ground just like in real life babies don't perceive the real world around them that well, imagining things and learning for the first time of their surroundings and the fact that they're "jumping out of a plane".
As you get older and fall farther, you start to see the ground, or the real world, or I guess for a more bleak term death. For example: young adults. They see some of the real world but there are still some clouds in their path, referring to teenager's and young adult's spirit and dreams. Some believe that they can make a change in the world one way or another. You also will join hands with others in your same plane and, hopefully, others.
As we get even older, the clouds start to fade and we see most if not all of real life and the reality of things around us. We realize that, whether good or bad, this is how life is and either you can let it happen or change your course since there's no way to stop falling. You might also join hands with a person from another plane permanently so ensuring them no matter what happens during the fall, you'll always be there for them.
As you start getting close to the ground, thus getting older, you start to realize that death is coming and there's not much you can do. If you live a good life, then you can have a functional parachute to help you coast down to the ground and not have a bad parachute that will give you a quick, scary death (although sometimes, unfortuanetly, someone can get a bad parachute even when working hard to get a good one). As you get down to landing and closing your life, you can think, "I'm scared because I'm going to land soon and I don't know what's going to happen when I do" or you can think "Well, this was an awesome time! I'm so glad I got to do this".
So, will you have fun during your fall, soaking in the landscape around you and enjoying it, or will you be scared of the impending ground for your whole life and not notice and take advantage of the things around you? Also, will you have a parachute or will you plunge to your death?
It's (mostly) your choice.
- Aidan
P.S. I had this thought after listening to Secret O' Life by James Taylor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHWHPPHpAj8
Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachuting
