Rage

What does it mean “to rage”?

     Although many people associate the term “rage” with a violent reaction or intense anger, according to my Webster’s Handy College Dictionary (4^th Edition), there are several definitions of the term. We think it was the 3^rd verb form listed that Dylan Thomas had in mind in his (featured) quote: “to have furious course or effect”. Or, at least that’s the way we embrace his meaning. Basically, to have passion, enthusiasm!

But, what if we took our discomfort, our un-scratch-able itch, our angst, our disquieting sense of “something missing”, and combined it with our life experience and knowledge, and directed it into purposeful pursuit, selected change, and continual personal evolution? The mind boggles...THIS is what it means to rage! That’s what this web site is dedicated to. Regardless of your age, join the rage!

We then dismiss these niggling questions by reasoning “it’s just the way it is”, or convincing ourselves “we just can’t have it all”, or wistfully sighing, “it just wasn’t meant to be”, or similar numbing thoughts. Then we head off to the T.V., the computer game, the fridge, the ice cream store, the corner bar, or other refuge of others who have lost the will “to rage”. This is not to say leisure time doesn’t have its place, but our culture seems to have gravitated towards a full-tilt career of wasting time reveling in the trivial and the meaningless. We use distraction and/or consumption as a salve for the ache of an unfulfilled life or unrealized potential.

Taking this interpretation, to rage, or to “not go gentle” means to take charge of your life and to direct it, to live your vision as opposed to simply letting things happen. There's the problem: as adults, too many of us lose our vision, our will to create. We settle in to a superficially comfortable, but somehow vaguely unsettling life as we drift through the years. We wonder what happened to our dreams and ambitions, gaze at into the mirror and wonder what happened; to our spirit, our body, perhaps our health, and our zest for living.