Day 87: Shakespeare

My parents knew I had an overactive imagination so they would often "hide" news from me or end up having to stay up late into the night to ensure I was calm enough to go to sleep.  Saints, really.

Anyway, my dad was a teacher and taught English, Theater and Mythology - so when it was his time to stay up with me, he would play his mandolin and sing or he would read me stories. Sometimes mythological stories or classic bedtime stories, and I would fall asleep as he read them.

I feel like I credit these stories and the fact we would run around in the theater to the later fact that I enjoyed Shakespeare even in High School.  Perhaps I was just trying to look cool and hip (but... honestly, that's a bit nerdy, so probably not) but I enjoyed reading and working to understand Shakespeare.  ...Most of the time; sometimes it was awful.

Anyway, today I was talking with a friend about decisions in life. Particularly, I was saying how I might switch my mindset during a non-ideal situation and approach it from a experiential perspective rather than negative. It changes the entire outlook on the circumstance and potentially offers enlightenment.  He'd commented with the idea that we are all just figuring out how to act on earth and it reminded me of the famous line, "All the world's a stage..." from Shakespeare's As You Like It.

I looked it up, and the speech is still fantastic - and understandable to most, I would guess:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

I just love it.  All the world's a stage - and all the men and women merely players. We play the part we choose to play.  I could continue with the nerdiness, but I will stop... but seriously... Shakespeare.

As my friend added, "Be a character worth remembering." So now to contemplate my part and the impact I can have.