Make Every Day Count
Carpe Diem – from Roman Poet Horace’s Odes (23 BC) is one of the greatest maxims ever penned. It is loosely translated as “Seize the Day”. The dictionary definition is ‘to urge someone to make the most of the present time and give little thought to the future. The Latin phrase – Memento Mori – is closely related to Carpe Diem. It literally means, ‘remember that you must die’. Both the aforesaid aphorisms are connected and our lives can be fulfilling if we are able to decipher how. What does Horace mean when he advises us to ‘seize the day’? He advocates ‘making most of the present time and give little thought to the future’ . He doesn’t imply we need to be reckless and live only in the present without any thought of the future. This will lead to undesirable consequences. Horace advocates making most of the available opportunities in the present so that we have a happy future. Now a little exercise in maths. Assuming a lifespan of 80 years for a typical city dweller, he/she inha