Q: Do you have a saying or motto that you try to live by?
A: Hmm, why yes, I do. It’s the motto of ‘Be Here Now’.
This motto, saying, I’m sure has been around a lot longer than I have known it to be, but it’s one that came into my life around 2015 when a short documentary of an actor by the name of Andy Whitfield came out. Andy played the title role in the STARZ show Spartacus, at least for the first season, before he was diagnosed with Stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma and sadly passed away.
I remember the first time I saw Andy in Spartacus, I thought to myself, this man is going to be something HUGE. Not only was he handsome and have this smile that would captivate you, but he had this talent that just blew you away while watching him. His eyes, those eyes, I literary commented, through the entire season, to friends and family how you could almost feel the pain this character, man, was going through based on his eyes. He just, I couldn’t stop raving about him to everyone. In fact, because I couldn’t stop talking about him, I got many people into the show and all remarked on how amazingly talented he was.
When he got sick, then passed away, I personally was going through a hard time. So, to hear he had passed, even though I had never met him, it really did upset me. Then when the documentary of his journey through treatment came out, I just felt taken. I cried nearly the entire movie, if I’m to be honest. Those eyes of his, they just pulled you in and you could feel the wave of emotions this man was going through. While watching this movie I noticed, during one of his interviews and treatments, he had a tattoo on his forearm that read Be Here Now.
It just stuck with me. Hit home. This man who I never met had taught me a lesson that I had missed all my life. That, our past is just that…our past. Our Future, it’s not set and can change within a second. That it’s now that matters. It’s now that you must live your life to the fullest. You must not take anything for granted. You must chase your dreams and tell those you love how much you do. You must show them. You must be strong and caring and release the negative that threatens to take you over every single day. You must ‘Be Here Now’. Life is short, we are not promised anything, and our life is what we make it. This is the motto I live each day by.
* Note: The tattoo in the picture is mine, place on my forearm. Just as Andy had his. *