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Lee's Summit, MO —
The following topic is nothing to laugh about, or is it?
Do you have a blank outdoor wall you would like to donate to a community and a worthy cause? Say, for a “Before I die I want to_______” message. This is not a sick joke but reality starting to take hold everywhere.
I found this intriguing story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about Cindy Chan, a Pittsburgh artist, who started a bucket list project last year in New Orleans and now it has gone global.
“Bucket List” walls are appearing everywhere. Chan even developed a stencil kit (Civiccenter.cc) for communities who wish to share wishes on the wall.
The attention to the term “bucket list” accelerated following the 2007 box office success dark-comedy film “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. They played two terminally ill men traveling the world completing a wish list before they “kicked the bucket.”
The first “kick the bucket” term began in England in the middle ages. A bucket of Holy Water was placed at the feet of a deceased person so that visitors paying their respects could sprinkle them with the blessed water. The other is the hanging suicide explanation of kicking the bucket out from under ones self.
While the subject of death may appear morbid, Ms. Chang’s quest, among others, is quite noble, compassionate and often humorous. After all, we do make out wills, buy burial plots and plan our funerals before taking that final bow all of us must surrender to the world.
Generally, we prefer not to talk about Hamlet and oneself “shuffling off our mortal coil,” yet Chan and others want us to look in the mirror and reflect, “‘why not laugh about it and share wishes with others for we are all in the same boat.”
There’s also a Bucket List” website (Bucketlist.org) where many respondents are doing exactly that with such whimsical wishes as climb a volcano. Get the other guy elected. Perfect a chili recipe. Visit New Zealand.
I made out my own bucket list (goals) years ago and have accomplished some of them including learning to scuba dive, driving up Pikes Peak, and being a used-car salesman. I’m still working on learning to play the piano, writing a blockbuster screenplay, a novel, and diving to the wreck of the Titanic.
I give you President John Adams’ toast: Independence forever.
The following topic is nothing to laugh about, or is it?
Do you have a blank outdoor wall you would like to donate to a community and a worthy cause? Say, for a “Before I die I want to_______” message. This is not a sick joke but reality starting to take hold everywhere.
I found this intriguing story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about Cindy Chan, a Pittsburgh artist, who started a bucket list project last year in New Orleans and now it has gone global.
“Bucket List” walls are appearing everywhere. Chan even developed a stencil kit (Civiccenter.cc) for communities who wish to share wishes on the wall.
The attention to the term “bucket list” accelerated following the 2007 box office success dark-comedy film “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. They played two terminally ill men traveling the world completing a wish list before they “kicked the bucket.”
The first “kick the bucket” term began in England in the middle ages. A bucket of Holy Water was placed at the feet of a deceased person so that visitors paying their respects could sprinkle them with the blessed water. The other is the hanging suicide explanation of kicking the bucket out from under ones self.
While the subject of death may appear morbid, Ms. Chang’s quest, among others, is quite noble, compassionate and often humorous. After all, we do make out wills, buy burial plots and plan our funerals before taking that final bow all of us must surrender to the world.
Generally, we prefer not to talk about Hamlet and oneself “shuffling off our mortal coil,” yet Chan and others want us to look in the mirror and reflect, “‘why not laugh about it and share wishes with others for we are all in the same boat.”
There’s also a Bucket List” website (Bucketlist.org) where many respondents are doing exactly that with such whimsical wishes as climb a volcano. Get the other guy elected. Perfect a chili recipe. Visit New Zealand.
I made out my own bucket list (goals) years ago and have accomplished some of them including learning to scuba dive, driving up Pikes Peak, and being a used-car salesman. I’m still working on learning to play the piano, writing a blockbuster screenplay, a novel, and diving to the wreck of the Titanic.
I give you President John Adams’ toast: Independence forever.
