LIFE IN SIX WORDS

This morning I had an interesting convergence of email messages with a serendipity effect. Here is the first message.

Can you tell your life story in six words? Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s famous six-word short story ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”), that’s what SMITH magazine editors Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser asked their online readers in 2006. They have now collected a number of these six-word autobiographies and published them in the book, Not Quite What I Was Planning (notice the number of words in the title).

Here are some examples from the book:

Brought it to a boil, often. (Mario Batali, chef)
Couldn’t cope, so I wrote songs. (Aimee Mann, singer, songwriter)
Maybe you had to be there. (Roy Blount Jr., humorist)
Cursed with cancer. Blessed by friends. (9 year old Hannah Davies)
Struggled with how the mind works. (Steven J. Pinker, psychologist)
Nobody cared, then they did. Why? (Chuck Klosterman, journalist)
Well, I thought it was funny. (Stephen Colbert, comedian)
Revenge is living well, without you. (Joyce Carol Oates, author)
Woke up. Went back to sleep. (Anonymous)
No wife. No kids. No problems. (Rip Riley)
I still make coffee for two. (Zak Nelson)
Yes, you can edit this biography. (Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder)

After reading the email and thinking about the book, I paused for about ten seconds and came up with my statement: Here I am. There I’ll go (or alternative: I am a pilgrim passing through). Next I read an email about the song, “If I Die Before You Wake.” Yes, note the six words. Click to see the video below with its timely message on this day before we remember 9-11.