I have but one word to say to you:
Rosebud.
I will direct you to the name of my motorhome: Rosebud.
Ever watch the movie Citizen Kane? Yes? Than you know why I answered your question this way. No? Than rent the DVD and watch it today, learn the meaning of the most famous line in movie history:
“Rosebud”
No time to watch the movie? I’ll make it easy on you and sum up what the word “Rosebud” means and why I named my motorhome Rosebud.
I’ll start with a quote from another movie: The Dead Poet’s Society. (When you get done watching Citizen Kane, watch the Dead Poet’s Society, you’ll see the meaning of my answer if you watch both movies back to back.
” Carpe Diem - Seize The Day - Gather Ye Rosebuds while ye may.”
The story of Citizen Kane is this:
On his death bed, a very wealthy, very hated, very old miser, sat starring into a snowglobe than mustered every last ounce of strength he had to say to his nurse: “Rosebud”. Than he feel down dead.
Having no will and no known heirs, his lawyers were convinced that Rosebud must be the person Kane intended to leave his worldly goods to. And so begins the movie as these men dissect every aspect of Kane’s life in search for the girl, the secret wife, the hidden lover, the daughter, the maid, the nurse, someone ANYONE who ever entered Kane’s life, whom was named Rosebud. In doing so they find his diary, and begin reading…the rest of the movie is in flashback, detailing Kane’s life from the day he was born until the day he died and the story goes as thus:
Kane was happy boy, oblivious to the hardships of the world around him: an abusive father and mother who cared only about money.
WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE. (4 minute clip)
Time moves on. The boy grows up. In a few short years he is a millionaire. He owns every thing and every one. The more money he gets the more powerful he becomes. Soon Kane is the evilest, wickest, greediest, cruelest, miser in the land – poor people are shattered and crushed in his path as he builds his giant empire of possessions, houses, and wealth.
Late in life Kane is hated by every one. He never married. He has no family. Money and wealth have made him miserable. The more he owned the more unhappy he became. Now he sits alone, sick and dieing and his masion. Unloved. Uncared for. Looking back on a life fill with regret: regret that the young man never carried out his dreams, never did the things he wanted to do as a boy, never had time to find a woman to love, turned his back on everything in pursuit of wealth, and was no sick, alone, and dieing… holding a snowglobe and remembering the only time in his life he was ever happy, his time spent with the mysterious elusive Rosebud.
And so the lawyers come to the end of Kane’s diary, no closer than they were at the beginning of the movie, to find out who this Rosebud was.
Having no heirs, Kane’s vast estates are taken over by the government, and everything considered “junk” is sent to an incinerator to be burned…
I’m not going to tell you the end of the movie, and who Rosebud is, instead…here is the last 3 minutes of the movie, you can watch it for yourself and see who Rosebud was, and why she was so important to this man’s happiness:
WATCH THE VIDEO CLIP ON YOUTUBE (3 minute clip)
Go back and watch the first one again…now the second one…did you see her? Look close and you’ll see Rosebud in both clips.
Okay, so now that you’ve watched those 2 video clips and know who Rosebud is, did you figure out yet WHY it is my answer to your question?
No? Let’s move on to The Dead Poet’s Society than…
John Keating: Mr. Pitts, would you open your hymnal to page 542 and read the first stanza of the poem you find there.
Pitts: [reading the poem title] “To the Virgins To Make Much of Time”?
John Keating: Yes, that’s the one. Somewhat appropriate, isn’t it?
Pitts: GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying : And this same flower that smiles to-day; To-morrow will be dying.
Keating: “Seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” Why does the writer use these lines?
Charlie: Because he’s in a hurry.
John Keating: No. Ding! Thank you for playing anyway. Because we are food for worms, lads. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold and die.
…(points to 100 year old photos of school boys)…
John Keating: They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? – - Carpe – - hear it? – - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.
And that is my answer, my advice to you:
You say (about fulltimeing and living in a motorhome): ”I can hardly wait to get started! I wish I could sell my house and go right now! Any advice?”
I ask you in turn: Why are you waiting? Seize the day. You want to sell your house? Than sell it! You want to live in a motorhome? Than get off your ass and go live in a motorhome! What’s stopping you? Money? You can get a $1,000 motorhome off Craigeslist and be on the road in less than a month. Don’t wait til you have $150,000 to buy a new one, start living your life now in a used one, you can move up to a new one after the sale of your house goes through.
Look around at the hopes and dreams and goals you watch fade and die like withered rosebuds every time you put off your dreams and stash them away in your “someday” pile. Don’t let your rosebuds wither and die. Gather them up today while they are still alive and fresh.
How many rosebuds have you gathered today?
Or how about thinking on it this way:
When you are on your deathbed: How many rosebuds will you be wishing you had not let pass you by?
This post was written by Wendy C Allen aka EelKat, is copyrighted by The Twighlight Manor Press and was posted on Houseless Living @ http://houselessliving.blogspot.com and reposted at EK’s Star Log @ http://eelkat.wordpress.com and parts of it may also be seen on http://www.squidoo.com/EelKat and http://laughinggnomehollow.proboards.com If you are reading this from a different location than those listed above, please contact me Wendy C. Allen aka EelKat @ http://laughinggnomehollow.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=viewprofile and let me know where it is you found this post. Plagiarism is illegal and I DO actively pursue offenders. Unless copying a Blog Meme, you do not have permission to copy anything appearing on this blog, including words, art, or photos. This will be your only warning. Thank you and have a glorious day! ~ EelKat
