“Just being alive should make you late for everything. In case you've never noticed, the dead are always on time.”
Arlene Ang's quote, “Just being alive should make you late for everything. In case you've never noticed, the dead are always on time,” offers a thought-provoking commentary on life, mortality, and the concepts of time and presence. This statement serves as a reminder that being alive entails unpredictability and a constant engagement with the chaos of life.
Firstly, the phrase "Just being alive should make you late for everything" suggests that the essence of life is filled with unexpected events, distractions, and responsibilities that can often lead to tardiness. It emphasizes the human experience, where our lives are never strictly linear or predictable. The vibrancy of existence introduces a sense of urgency and spontaneity, which contrasts sharply with the rigid perception of time associated with death.
The second part of the quote, "the dead are always on time," reinforces a stark juxtaposition. It implies that death, in its finality, brings a sense of closure and inevitability. The dead are not subject to the whims of life; they are released from the chaos and the burden of time. This observation may also evoke a deeper reflection on how we often feel pressured to conform to societal expectations regarding punctuality and productivity, despite the inherent unpredictability that life embodies.
Ultimately, Ang's quote invites us to reconsider our relationship with time and to embrace the messiness of living. We may find that, rather than adhering strictly to schedules and deadlines, embracing the unpredictability of life enriches our experiences and fosters a deeper appreciation for the moments we have. Acknowledging that “being alive” may mean deviance from time allows us a greater sense of freedom in our daily lives.
“Dying is a universe of its own. ”
“Love you always :)”
“We don't always come out unbreakable the first time. So we are broken and rebuilt several times, until there is no question that we can stand on our own”
“You never conquer a mountain. You stand on the summit a few brief minutes and then the wind blows away your footprints”
“What all of this suggests is that we need a more complex understandingof identities. If we identify on the basis of race, class, sexuality, orgender alone we cannot make sense of the ways these identificationscombine and change over time. The used-to-be-working class nowprofessional woman, the woman of mixed racial parentage who appearswhite, the divorced mother who is now a lesbian, the former lesbian whois now straight, or the former lesbian who is now a man. Identities arealways in motion; they are mobile (Ferguson, 1993). This is particularlythe case for those who have been placed in identity categories that do notquite seem to fit; it is also true of many more of us, in varied ways. Justask our current President, whose own origin story, of which he has spokenand written eloquently, is exceedingly complex. We need, I believe, aconception of identities that embraces this complexity, that takes intoaccount temporality and also specificity.”
“God loves you :)”