The Year of the Bucket

I wanted 2011 to be my best year ever in all areas of my life, so I tried to find a way for my New Year's resolutions to last for more than three weeks. I found the perfect motivation: imminent death. No, I'm not terminally ill, but like each one of us, one day, known to God alone, I will kick the proverbial bucket.

One of my favorite movies of all time is “The Bucket List,” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. I watched the Bucket List again last week as a source of inspiration before writing any resolutions down. For those not familiar with the movie, Freeman and Nicholson share the same hospital room and find out they both have terminal cancer and have just a few months to live. Nicholson's character is a multimillionaire, with multiple ex-wives and a estranged relationship with his only daughter. Freeman is a mechanic, who sacrificed his career ambitions to put his three kids through college. Chemotherapy and sleepless nights becomes their common bond, and the two men quickly become friends. Act two begins with Freeman making a list of all the things he would like to do before he dies. He calls it a “bucket list.” Nicholson sees the list, ads a few more exciting things to it and decides to pick up the tab to complete the list. They go skydiving, race car driving, and even take a trip around the world in Nicholson's private jet.

While watching the movie, I asked myself, “What would I do if I knew I was going to die on December 31, 2011?” My New Year's resolutions then turned into my Last Year's resolutions. It was a scary yet sobering thought. At the beginning of the Bucket List, the narrator---Freeman, of course--- says that when Jack Nicholson's character died “his eyes were closed, and his heart was open.” That was the clue to what I would do with my bucket year. I realized that instead of things to do, I had people to love.

First on my list is to deepen my relationship with God and neighbor. However, to love God is always easier than to love God in those around us. Our families and those close to us could be toughest people to love at times. I'm also certain that they would say the same thing about loving us back.

At the climax of the movie, Nicholson gets upset with Freeman because he tried to arrange for Nicholson to reconcile with his daughter without his consent. The two then part ways abruptly, only to reunite weeks later right before Freeman's character dies. Freeman writes a letter to Nicholson before his passing and tells Jack to find the “joy in his life.” Nicholson then musters enough courage to reconcile with his daughter, and the rest is a happy ending.

John Meyer's “Say” was the theme song for the movie. The lyrics appropriately chime: “Say what you need to say; for it's better to say too much than to say nothing at all.” I think to live without regrets is to have no unresolved issues with those around us at the hour of our death. Perhaps three of the most difficult words to say in the English language are: “I'm sorry;” “I love you;” or “I forgive you.”

While I don't wish for anyone to die this year, and God-willing most of us will not, I think it's important to keep our mortality always before us. If we do, it will remind us to love God and our neighbor at all times, so like Jesus we could die with our eyes closed and our hearts open.