Pause for Thought - Life is short + U R hot

This week, Rabbi Miriam Lorie joins BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought with a reflection on the fleeting nature of life, inspired by some unexpected words of wisdom spray-painted on a railway bridge.

Click the photo above, or here to listen in full: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0pglsmn Or for those who prefer to read:

Life is short + U R hot

There’s a railway bridge near my house which is covered in graffiti, despite the council’s best efforts to cover it up every now and then. Most of the graffiti is kind of boring - scribbled initials or “Sophie loves Jake”. There are a couple of conspiracy theories in black marker that make me laugh - “veganism = satanism”! And “wake up sheeple”! But there’s one graffitist who puts surprisingly deep comments up in gold spray paint. My favourite is “Life is short + U R hot”. (U & R as letters not words of course).

Yes! I think as I jog past. They have basically said, in graffiti language, carpe diem, seize the day, because who knows what will be tomorrow. And “you are hot” (why thank you) could simply mean you’re beautiful, but for me as I run past, I like it to mean “here you are, with life and health and the ability to be in this moment. Use it well.”

In my Jewish language, it’s saying the gorgeous line from Psalms: “This is the day that God has made; let us rejoice and be glad on it.”

… along with the line that Rabbi Hillel says in Ethics of the Fathers: “If not now, when?”

Today is the day to make that phone call. Start that new good habit. Eat the dessert. Say sorry to that person. Dance! Or tell someone how much you love them and why. Because if not now, when?

It has been a period of losing great people in my life. My grandma, my uncle, a friend’s dad, another friend’s mum - and several contemporaries, taken from this world far, far too young. Perhaps that's why those words on the railway bridge have stayed with me.

It’s easy to get down about loss, but the graffiti helps me see the fleeting nature of life as an encouragement to live more fully.

So here’s to making the most of this moment, this day, this extraordinary gift of being alive. In the immortal words of my railway bridge philosopher: remember, U R hot. (Also Sara, I get pretty overheated when I run, so it’s true on many levels).