The Time of Your Life
W. Saroyan
In
the time of your life, live—so that in that good time there shall be no
ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches. Seek
goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding
place and let it be free and unashamed.
Place
in matter and in flesh the least of the values, for these are the
things that hold death and must pass away. Discover in all things that
which shines and is beyond corruption. Encourage virtue in whatever
heart it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the shame and
terror of the world. Ignore the obvious, for it is unworthy of the clear
eye and the kindly heart.
Be
the inferior of no man, or of any men be superior. Remember that every
man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any
man's innocence a thing apart. Despise evil and ungodliness, but not men
of ungodliness or evil. These, understand. Have no shame in being
kindly and gentle but if the time comes in the time of your life to
kill, kill and have no regret.
In
the time of your life, live—so that in that wondrous time you shall not
add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the
infinite delight and mystery of it.
footnote: From the Play's monoluge "The Time of Your Life" (1939)
