Once is enough

“You can only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” — Mae West

The other day, I came across this fortune in a fortune cookie. You know what I mean, the little cookie you get with Chinese food that has those brief messages.

When I looked up this sentence, it turns out that Mae West is credited with the quote. Interesting.

However, for this article, I will stick with the fortune cookie aspect of the sentiment.

In Bed

I usually add the phrase ‘in bed’ to the fortune, and most times, it improves the meaning and flair of the fortune. I love the randy sentiment the addition implies. Back in the late 80s, I learned to add the phrase when I first moved to this town. My coworkers and I would go out to lunch regularly. It was during one of these lunches I heard the phrase ‘in bed’ added to a fortune. I loved it and immediately adopted the practice. Most everyone I know either already does it or enjoyed my idiosyncrasy. It’s odd that my live-in girlfriend doesn’t find it cute, but I do it anyway. It’s fun.

However, in this case, I don’t think to add the phrase ‘in bed’ improves the sentiment. Think about it.

“You can only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough in bed.”

It doesn’t have the right ring to it. Adding in bed implies that once you’ve done it right once in bed, you never need to do it again in bed. Huh? No way. There’s always room to improve doing it in bed, and if it’s perfect, then doing it again only reinforces the perfection. I couldn’t imagine not doing it in bed ever again. Where’s the fun after that? Therefore, I’m not adding the phrase. I prefer the original fortune.

Life after death

“You can only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” — Mae West

What does this mean to you? I’d like to know. I’m not positive we only live once. If you believe in reincarnation, you’ll likely live countless lives from the beginning of the universe. If you believe in life after death, as various faiths teach, you’ll end up living a unique existence than the one you left behind on this planet. The only way to accept this axiom as true is that you don’t believe in life after death at all.

Once is enough, or is it?

It’s highly likely that once we die, our lives end. Most of us don’t want to consider that eventuality. I will not argue the point of whether there is life after death. No, I want to write about the fortune itself.

Let’s assume for the moment that we only live once. What does doing it right mean to you? And if you do it right, is it enough for you, your loved ones, your community, or for humanity?

I’d like society to remember me for accomplishing something meaningful. Did I make a difference in this world? I would like to think so. It would be grand if my life resulted in leaving this world a little better than I found it when I came into the world. I don’t want society to remember me as a sociopath, living my life as a bad influence on the global community I live in. No, I would like the world to remember me as being a positive influence, adding to what makes them better people.

So I ask you. If you can only live once, did you do it right? Was once enough?

Send me your thoughts. I’d love to hear your opinions. Check out my art gallery website, maggicalExpressions. Let me know if you find anything of interest.