What would you do if you only had five years left to live?
Yesterday I found out this guy named Monty Oum died a couple weeks ago. You probably don’t know him and he certainly didn’t know I knew of him. He made an animated video a number of years ago called Haloid where the protagonists from the videogames Metroid and Halo fought each other. The fight choreography was nothing short of sublime so I became an instant fan.
I followed Monty as he created increasingly impressive independent projects. After he moved on from that I continued to keep tabs on him as he dove into animation gigs for video games. He finally ended up at a company called Rooster Tooth where he brought his style to an already popular video series called Red vs. Blue.
I randomly searched for him yesterday because… who knows? Sometimes I get a thought and I just roll with it. I found out Monty got to develop his own original series with Rooster Tooth called RWBY. I also found out he died of an allergic reaction to a standard medical procedure.
Bam, dead at 33.
Still, to me it seemed like Oum led a pretty kick ass life. From what I remember of the guy, he was obsessed with anime, fight choreography, and dance, things that inspired him to the eventual creation of his passion project. Even if he only got to enjoy it until the no so ripe old age of 33, the dude still lived his dream.
What would you do if you only had five years left to live? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’d be doing the exact same thing I’m doing right now. I have a bad case of tunnel vision, y’all. I have my eyes set on the life I want to live and no one can stop me. It’s not like I want much; I just want a happy, chill life with my wife-to-be, away from all the stress I used to have. Oh yeah, and the dog too. If I knew I had only five years left to live, the only difference would be I’d walk around knowing when my time is up.
Most of us live as if tomorrow probably isn’t our last day. But if you knew it would be your last day, I bet you’d be living life differently to some degree. Maybe you’d travel somewhere. Maybe you’d spend time with loved ones. Maybe you’d just spend some time reflecting. My point is why would anyone want to live otherwise? Is being unaware of when we’re going to die an invitation to only kind of live the life you want? Yes, yes, I know; not everyone has the opportunity to do what they want. But if you do, do it. Because who knows? You may only have five years left to live.
Previously: Ain’t Nobody Got Time for Vegan Cheese
Andre C Griffiths 