Memento Mori

Momento Mori — “Remember you must die.”

If I had to put a quote on a billboard for everyone to read, it would be this: “Momento Mori.” It’s a latin phrase that roughly means — “Remember you must die.” It might sound morbid in the first read but it’s more than just that.

The quote has served me as a reliable reminder in the times when I felt disappointed and depressed. When I was jealous and jolted by sadness. It reminded me that none of these suffering matter in the long run and that life is too short to allow myself to suffer. Eventually we all will fade. So will our works and thoughts. Entire civilizations and species were wiped off in a blink.

This quote reminds me often that life is too short to spend it being unhappy. There’s really no excuse to spend life in misery. In the bestest case scenario we get 60-70 years of life and while the days might seem longer, the years aren’t.

> In a blink of an eye, we’ll all be gone. 100 years compared to infinity is nothing. I talk to my sister all the time…. [I say,] ‘Girl, you better start having some fun. We’re gonna be gone in a minute. You’re gonna look back and say, “Shit, I should have been laughing and now I’m dead.”’ — Jamie Foxx

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It just happened so that I attended a workshop recently where I was able to engrave these quotes on a silver ring. I sincerely hope that the engraving does it’s job of being a constant reminder that nothing is worth being unhappy about. And remember — we must die.