Endurance

Tom Petty once sang "well, I won't back down, no I won't back down. You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down". These lyrics came to my mind when I read The Old Man and The Sea. The endurance the old man shows, how he keeps on going. "Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around. And I'll keep this world from dragging me down, gonna stand my ground. And I won't back down" His will, and need to make this final goal, as if he knows, and perhaps he does, that his life is coming to an end. His acceptance of the fact that catching the fish might have been the easy part, and that life isn't going to cut him any slack. Getting the fish home in one piece will be an impossible task, but he gives himself no choise. "Hey, baby. There aint no easy way out. Hey, I will stand my ground, and I won't back down" It would have been easier to just let it go. Nobody expected that he, after 84 days without any luck, would go out and catch anything. Still, he keeps on going. For what? Being remembered? One final accomplishment? Let's assume that these are the reasons. Why are these things so important to us? Have we lived a better life if "everyone" remembers us? Or is it more personal? So that on your final day you can look back and see that you actually made something of your life? "Well, I know whats right. I'v got just one life. In a world that keeps on pushing me around, but I'll stand my ground. And I won't back down." Santiago was a fisherman, happy with his life as such, but didn't give in until that last fish was caught. That last proof that he had lived his life right and to the fullest. I guess these are the goals that make people hang in there. The reasons for the endurance in all of us. Our reasons to keep on going. "Hey, baby. There aint no easy way out. Hey, I will stand my ground, and I won't back down. No I won't back down."


*Lyrics taken from the song "Won't back down" by Tom Petty from the album "Full Moon Fever" released in 1989.

In response to The Old Man and the Sea.