Bottom of the Ninth #70 - Seize the Day

by Keith Wahl

I remember seeing Dead Poets Society in the theater. I was 15 years old, and while Robin Williams may have had a classroom full of students on the set of the film, he had my ear as well.

I remember walking down the halls inside the gym at my high school where all of the hall of fame and team pictures were proudly on display. It was never far from my mind to make sure my picture, my mark on that school's history, would one day be displayed on those walls.

In the scene pictured above, Williams takes his class into a hallway near a trophy case accompanied by team pictures from yesteryear. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may," he told his class. Get closer to the pictures, listen to what they have to say, he said. And then the line remembered by all who have seen the film...

"Carpe diem...Seize the day, boys."

Do we give our young people the space to dream in this way today, or do we push them to become an idol of our own making? My parents didn't have to walk with me down the halls saying, "Don't you want to be like them some day?" That happened naturally, and it happened as gently as the whisper of Robin Williams.

Paul speaks to a young man named Timothy in a couple of letters in the New Testament. Specifically, in his first letter to Timothy, Paul says:

1 Timothy 4:12 "Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe."

Let no one look down on your youthfulness. Show yourself as an example. Paul is exhorting Timothy through the written word, a word that became like the whisper of the Holy Spirit in Timothy's life. May we all seek to be this kind of mentor to the young people of today and tomorrow. Ignite a spark of passion that grows into a flame for the Kingdom of Christ in young people around you.

Rest in peace, John Keating.