Two philosophers who have taught the world about life are Omar Khayyám and Søren Kierkegaard. Khayyám lived in the last half of the 11^th and first half of the 12^th century. He lived as long as I have. Søren Kierkegaard lived in the first half of the 19^th century and lived half the years of Khayyám.

I’m writing this essay as 2024 has nearly run its course. Tomorrow, the world will be celebrating New Year’s Eve. While Americans await the New Year, it is with fear and trembling. Trump will return to the White House on January 20^th. What can we learn from Omar Khayyám and Søren Kierkegaard?

Khayyám was not only a great Persian poet but also into math and astronomy. The world learned a great deal from his math and science.

Omar Khayyam

However, Khayyám authored a long poem, Rubaiyat. It consisted of 75 to 101 quatrains depending upon various poetry scholars. Nonetheless, the one quatrain that is world-famous is this one.

Khayyám warned his listeners to live a correct life. He wrote that our lives are like a moving finger. What we do in life can’t be edited or deleted. If Khayyám were writing today that quatrain of the Rubaiyat, he would replace the moving finger with the video. Either way, we all will be remembered for our lives and how they are spent.

Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish writer who dealt with theological and philosophical issues. Additionally, he was a social critic of the world in which he lived.

Søren Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard wrote, “There are two ways to be fooled: one is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” Kierkegaard authored his masterpiece Either/Or, in which he presents a choice that we have in life. Either we do this, or we do that.

In three weeks, Trump will return to the White House. This is his promise.

Trump’s comment, “I am your retribution,” means that he will retaliate against all those who attacked him. He is out to get all those on the January 6^th Select Committee, especially Liz Cheney, Special Counsel Jack Smith, and those involved in the 34 count falsifying business records, ad infinitum. Trump is an angry old man who cares about himself and is indifferent to others. While he denies a hit list, Trump wants to have Kash Patel as the head of the FBI. Patel has a list of 60 enemies that he will go after. Essentially, they make up some of Trump’s targets without forcing him to state his hit list explicitly.

Each of us has a Kierkegaardian either/or choice. Will you follow in Trump’s footsteps? If you do, you will become a meme of Trump.

However, I have an alternative. Watch this Amazon commercial. It contains two positive role models, an old guy and a young gal. Both role models should be examples of how we should lead our lives for as long as we live. We can change our world.