As I re-read On the Road I am reminded of why it is my soul mate in book form. I feel as time goes on we get more and more disillusioned and more and more afraid to truly seize the day. Where is the life lost in living? Where does that once wild and rebellious dreamer go? I think at times we all need to visit our inner Dean Moriarty and get in touch with that part of us that was once "tremendously excited with life" and race around this mad, mad world testing our limits.
It seems to me the beat generation had one ideology...and that was life. The fear of death subconsciously follows us all. The greatest fear being that death will come too soon, before we have had the time to do what we've always wanted to do. Heck, isn't it always too soon? The beat generation acknowledged this aversion and did all in their power to experience as much livelihood as they could while they were still alive. They were wise enough to see through materialism. It's no wonder Kerouac presents the beat generation as a "holy" generation. It was a generation liberated by the peril of pretension, materialism and useless dogmas. Instead, they were in constant search for some greater truth that life would teach them.
What truly inspires me is how Kerouac expresses the refusal to miss out on life and a determination to get the most out of the now. I was in awe when I first picked up this book and continue to be in awe of it years upon years later. We only get one life...don't sit on the sidelines...go out and live. Or as another one of my favorite authors Henry David Thoreau said, "Live deliberately."
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