“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”
― Michelangelo Buonarroti
Choupette, Karl Lagerfeld’s cat, could inherit her owner’s fortune, after his death yesterday at the age of 85.
Now, people are usually quick to dismiss this as some sort of eccentric behavior of the rich and famous, but… I urge you to imagine the life of someone who’s closest connection was with a cat. A cat. And someone with quite a lot of money and influence and status and all that…
I think this is the reason envy is such a stupid thing. You can have all the money in the world, yet no one loves you. You can be the hardest worker in the room, yet no one genuinely trusts you. You can have a great career, and be miserable in your love life.
For everything we gain, we must sacrifice something else.
Do you want to conquer the world? Odds are you will die young, tired, broken, defeated and alone by the weight of the world constantly pressing on your shoulders.
Few are ever aware of the price one must pay for greatness, of how much you need to give up. Most folks have mad social skills when compared to top athletes and artists and performers.
That’s why most of them go bankrupt a few years after retiring, that’s why they engage in all sorts of reckless behavior.
Yes, you can have anything you want in life, as long as you give up on everything else to have it.
No big deal.
Imagine the Roman generals during a triumph, when a slave would constantly whisper into their ears, “Memento mori.”
Remember that you are mortal.
A human, after all. No matter your achievements, no matter the mastery you achieved, no matter the praise of others. You are but a man. You are going to die, and this final defeat will reveal to you all the previous battles that you chose to ignore during your life.
I ask myself sometimes… Do you think Alexander the Great ended up regretting that he set out to conquer the world? Dying so young, far from home.
“Bury my body and don’t build any monument. Keep my hands out so the people know the one who won the world had nothing in hand when he died.” — Alexander the Great
Maybe, on his deathbed, he thought it would have been better to rule for as long as possible. To be good, not great.
Maybe fate always demands a far too greater price for greatness. Maybe that’s why history remembers the great, while condemns the rest of us to become nothing more than rust and stardust.
They say it is brave to aim for an ordinary happy life. He will be missed but probably not that much by his cat.
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There’s this story about Alexander the Great meeting a philosopher at a river crossing.
“This man has conquered the world,” said one of Alexander’s men about him. “What have you accomplished?” He asked the philosopher.
“I have conquered the desire to conquer the world,” said the philosopher proudly.
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Rust and stardust… quite an image! If I aspire to greatness, it is to “take note of people around me who are thirsty – and fill them with what I carry in my canteen.” (My thought for today from Cynthia Ruchti.
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On a similar note I loved that Dolly Parton set out to give every child in her state a book each year. She has been doing this and more for decades now.
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God bless her!!
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Walking alone in a crowd. Being surrounded by ‘friends’ but not one shoulder to cry on. Getting numerous ‘likes’ on a post but no one to share the little joys of life with. Where are we heading?
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True genius has always tended to set people apart from others. The thing I noticed about Karl was the people who worked for him appeared to get on quietly with their work-when I watched the build up to a big show, there had been almost no fuss and drama.
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I also wonder if I was the only one who saw evidence of tears in the eyes of the models at his last show, where he had failed to show up because he was “tired”. At the time I had hoped I was wrong, thinking it was serious.
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My life as a cat. Meow!
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Have you ever listened to him being interviewed? He was generally pretty no-nonsense? I am amazed at the way he integrated so seamlessly into French culture, while always remaining German himself. He changed the way I viewed fashion designers.
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‘You are but a man, you are going to die.’ Amen, but a reality very few are able to accept and come to terms with. I tell my children, the only thing certain in this life, is death. You can’t avoid it. Great post.
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I have a theory everything we do is “inspired” by our own mortality. Well, by us being aware of it anyway.
From the stupid habits and addictions to great inventions and discoveries, it was all done because we are aware of how fragile we really are and we hate it and we don’t know what to do about it.
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Very interesting! And I agree, we are really fragile. Thank you for sharing that.
And may I add, that I greatly admire your writing.
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Thank you so much for the compliment.
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Of course, you’re welcome
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Reblogged this on MondaysChild.
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Great post till the last little depressing bit: “nothing more than rust and stardust”. As a Christian, I believe I’ll live on. As I get older, I realize that my family and friends and doing good are more important than ambition. Many people sacrificed all for their ambitions and are quickly forgotten by the next generation.
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What a fresh chain of thought! Reminds me of the quote “It’s better to die choking on greatness than live nibbling on mediocrity”
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Indeed.
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