« The sculptor Anish Kapoor | Main | Our attractive nuisance. »

May 26, 2013

Just the facts, Jack

kerouace.jpg
"Because in the end, you won't remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain." -- Jack Kerouac.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at May 26, 2013 11:23 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

Thanks for sharing that. Planning a climb this summer. Very motiviational quote for me.

Posted by: altered states at May 26, 2013 12:09 PM

Kerouac: said by the man who eneded up living at his parents' house in St. Petersburg, FL and drank himself to death.

Posted by: Ed Wallis at May 26, 2013 1:34 PM

It's about the journey, Ed. Not the destination. The destination is always the same. In the meantime, Jack =Big Life.

Posted by: vanderleun at May 26, 2013 2:52 PM

There's a difference between something singular like a good day's climb, and being snugly ensconced in a workaday life. Some people might regard the sum of a life consisting of going in to work every day and mowing the lawn on the weekend with fondness, provided it has something such as an even halfway happy family to go along with it. I think Kerouac is comparing two dissimilar things.

If one had to climb a mountain every workday, or even once a week, one might start to regard boring domestic life as desirable. Eating freeze-dried and shitting in a cat hole might not be so romantic.

Posted by: Mike James at May 26, 2013 4:16 PM

Sorry, Mr. vdL, but I lived across the street, and my uncle knew the three of them. You're being suckered by the myth (Love Ya Still!). It's not that we all die (that's ZeroHedge's excellent motto!), but that indeed the journey/voyage/travel (pick your image) must acknowledge the glamorous and the gruesome. "Legends" - especially of the Leftist bent - too often conveniently gloss over those - as Obama would say - "bumps in the road." Kerouac was Leftist scum...no matter how "romanticized" one may wish his past to be.

Posted by: Ed Wallis at May 26, 2013 4:22 PM

I think that's a picture of Neil Cassady.

Posted by: brindle at May 27, 2013 4:42 AM

I'm with Mike James on this.

Posted by: Fausta at May 27, 2013 2:29 PM

I've already instructed my kids that I want "I wish I'd spent more time at the office" on my gravestone just so I can be that guy.

Posted by: Jason in SD at May 29, 2013 12:34 PM

Post a comment




Remember Me?

(you may use HTML tags for style)