Carpe Diem: Shakespeare as "Everyman's" Bard

"Let me play the fool.
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans."
The Merchant of Venice, 1.1.79-82

When I read this passage, I was amazed to recall that I wrote something very similar in my journal nearly two years ago to the day.  I'd been writing about how much I loved the sun: "I love being in its light and warmth, & it's especially nice when the weather's like it has been (perfect temperature, with a faint breeze, and familiar smells and beautiful colors all around).... It reminds me of God's love for me and my Savior's love for me.  It's so perfect & I love to feel it.  I don't care if I get skin cancer--no one can keep me out of the sun that I love so much!"

Each of us will come to the end of our roads someday.  The real question  is, "How will we get there?"  According to Graziano (and a voice deep inside each one of us), the journey is to be made with smiles and joy.  Even President Gordon B. Hinckley said that life is meant to be enjoyed, not endured.

This is one of those moments that I find easy to appreciate where Shakespeare has said something that rings true with his audience.  It doesn't matter, really, whether the person reading or listening is rich or poor, male or female, Asian or American:  here, Shakespeare has found something that vibrates to an ideal that I think every person wishes to achieve.

Carpe Diem, everyone!