Roman candles

"The only people for me are the mad ones- the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars, and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop, and everybody goes, 'Ahhhh!'"
-Jack Kerouac


I haven't blogged in a while. There have been a few times when I sat at my computer, tried to think of something inspired to say, and gave up. I'm not sure why I haven't been able to put together a cohesive paragraph, but I have an idea as to what the reason could be; I've been absorbed in this machine we call life, completely uninspired, instead of living what I'm passionate about. It's so easy when I'm in an environment like this to fade into everyone else, but today someone reminded me who I want to be. What vitality is there in living the same life as any other person? That's not life at all, because living is finding what drives your passions from a feeling to an action; it's finding what makes you feel truly alive.

We all know how everyone else wants us to live. It could be as a perfect girl who dresses perfectly, looks perfect, never steps a toe out of line, and never has a sarcastic thing to say, or a fun guy with no problems and no worries. But why live how everyone wants? Why not be real? I know the world has set a mold and expects everyone to fit it. "Look your best, do your best, be your best." But what if that isn't what's important? What if what's vital is embracing the individual spark that God put inside each of us? This world can be a breathtaking display of fireworks if everyone is real about who they are and loves it, embraces it.

It's the greatest tragedy to see infinite potential fade into the distance. But individuality sets the world on fire.

Photography by Natalie Eck :)