You Have a Choice

Be Wise With All You Have

03/26/2025

Writing to you from Bend, Oregon.

Man, it’s a long drive from Denver to Bend, and the driving is just beginning…

Next I’ll be heading to Northport, Washington. Then to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and back to Denver, Colorado after I complete my annual fire training. I’ll be here and in Washington to visit friends and in Idaho to complete the fire training.

Anyway, despite the drive being long, it took me down a series of roads that I have driven many times before…

Many memories surfaced from one, three, and five years ago.

Family roadtrips and cross-country moves made up the majority of the memories…

But, one of the strangest moments was when I drove through Burns, Oregon yesterday - the place where I first stepped foot onto a wildfire to work as an EMT almost a year ago.

I could have sworn that happened just the other day.

A Reminder…If You Need it

The realization and very clear understanding of the finitude of time is crucial for the simple fact that it is nearly impossible to live a good life - consciously directed and aimed towards good - without that understanding.

How can you see what matters if you don’t have a sense for the definite limit to life?

We all have an extremely limited amount of time here and there’s no telling how many days, weeks, months, or years either you or I have left.

Now, upon this realization, we have the choice between two paths:

Love or Fear.

We can either make the decision to live in fear by pursuing unmanly and immoral acts based on immediate gratification to make “the best” of our time.

Or…

We can willingly choose to walk a path that overcomes fear, aims for virtue, and improves the lives of the people we love. Aiming higher on this path, we are able to capture the moment and use it for the betterment of the future.

Not to mention that on this path (clearly the better one) you are continuously trying to be free of natural fears that grip you and keep you from necessary discomfort or keep you from doing what is right.

Continuing Forward

Sometimes simple reflection is all that is needed to refresh your mind about which path you need to be taking.

But, every once in a while, it’s important to go back to places where core memories were made. Especially as you shape your life (and yourself) into what you want it (and you) to be, you need reminders of clear waypoints in time to demonstrate how far you’ve come and how much time has already passed.

It keeps you focused on what matters most to you.

Have you thought about how fast time moves recently?

And have you thought about what truly matters to you and what you’re going to do to move towards that now?

Time moves fast. We’ve gotta use it wisely.

-Maxim Benjamin Smith