Here’s something from Gabriel Garcia Marquez. One of those if-I-die-tomorrow-what-is-my-message-to-humanity posts.

If for an instant God will forget that I am a rag doll and will give me a piece of life, I probably would not say all that I think, but I definitely would think all that I say. I would give value to all things, not for what they value, but rather for what they mean. I would sleep little, and dream much, understanding that for every minute that we close our eyes, we lose sixty seconds of light. I would walk where the others are careful, I would rise where the others sleep. I would listen where others speak, as I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream.

If God will present me with a piece of life, I would dress simply, would throw my face into the sun, baring not only my body but also my soul. My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hate on ice, and would wait for the sun to return. I would paint with a dream of Van Gogh, about the stars, a poem of Benedetti, a song of Serrat would be the serenade that I would offer to the moon. I would water the roses with my tears, in order to feel the pain of its thorns, and the incarnate kiss of its petals. . .

My God, if I had a piece of life. . . I would not let a single day pass without telling the people I love, that I love them. I will convince every woman and man that they are my favorites, and I would live in love with love. To men I would prove wrong those who think that they cease to be in love when they grow old, not knowing that to grow old is to cease to be in love. To a child I would give wings, but I would leave him alone in learning to fly. To the old I would teach them that death does not come with old age, but with forgetting.

Many things I have learned from you, men. . . I have learned that all the world wants to live at the peak of the mountains, not knowing that true happiness lies in the manner of climbing the slopes. I have learned that when a newly born squeezes with his tiny fist, for the very first time, the finger of his father, he has him trapped forever.

I have learned that a man only has the right to look down upon another when he has helped him to get up. There are so many things that I have learned from you, but in reality these will be of no much use, for when I keep them within my suitcase, unhappily, shall I be dying.

1) Last Lecture of Randy Pausch
2) On Waiting