Mallory Square, Key West (Keturah)

At Sunset, everyone goes to Mallory Square by the water to watch the magic and applaud the sun's drop off the earth. So, I was wandering among the vendors and performers when I happened upon a young artist drawing a girl's portrait. This sort of thing is fascinating to me, so I struck up a conversation with him when he finished. It was a slow night for him, but I didn't have any cash, but he offered to use me as a demo so that at least people could see him working. It turns out that the artist, Justin, went to school for photography, but has spent the last six years traveling from beach to boardwalk to tourist destination, drawing portraits.

It turned out to be his mistake, offering to draw me, because sitting there perfectly still, absorbing a sky bruised by dusk seems to uncap my stream of consciousness. He said the magic words after he finished drawing my mouth "Ok, you can talk now." And I wondered aloud at this world. How does anyone choose a life to live? There are too many options available... you have your career people who did college, worked hard, prepared a 50-year plan including a cushy retirement and even death. Some choose to dedicate their lives to family. Then there is the colorful group of vagabonds, gypsies, bums, hippies and traveling wanderers. Others do that in a more structured setting, like your artists, writers and poets. Still others dedicate their lives to a faction of the human, such as body (sports), spirituality (missions, church, etc.) or mind (professors, intellectuals). Some people give up their lives for the sake of humanity....serving, serving, serving. How does anyone have a clue? We have stayed with the rich and the middle class, the old and the young, in resorts and in parking lots. We have experienced the benefits and disadvantages of them all so far. I haven't found one that seems more worthwhile than another. In the end, we die. Even if there is a hereafter, I can't imagine that this life would exist for the sake of that one. If that were true, why wouldn't we all just start with that one?

In the end, I have no answers. I have read so many books, heard about so many people who muse over the meaning of life, the question that has plagued mankind for all of existence. No one seems to make any headway on it. In the end, I am left with one night set to a beautiful dipping sun, twirled around by musicians and performers and a lovely conversation with a talented artist who has found something that at least makes him happy for now.

Are we all only to be satisfied with happy for now?