By Jessie Gambrell

Opinion Editor

Not sure if you are aware of this popular acronym being used everywhere; YOLO – You Only Live Once. It’s all the rage right now, which makes sense since our society seems to have tendencies to go out and do things that may not be all that moral or right.

They go out and do these things just because they think that it will be the only chance they’ve got to live life the way they want to. Yes, we are only on earth for a “short” time, which can justify doing fun things or taking up once-in-lifetime opportunities. However, being that we only “live once,” this does not mean that we should go out and do things that would otherwise be illegal or immoral.

And as I have already seen, salesmen have already started to use it against us. I saw an ad the other day that showed a pair of sassy high heels saying, “Buy these heels! YOLO!”

Even your friends can dangerously use it against you. For example, someone could say, “come drinking with us, YOLO” or “YOLO, why not smoke a joint with us?”  See what I mean? People who are vulnerable to this mindset can get caught up in some nasty stuff very quickly.

People seem to think that when you die, you die and nothing else happens, you’re just dead. However, according to the Adventist Review, 78 percent of Americans who fall under the Christian religion believe that there is an “afterlife,” or a place that your soul goes to after your body has passed from this earth.

According to Catholic belief, there are three places where your soul can go after death; Heaven, the ultimate goal and life purpose; Purgatory, a place of judgment for those who are not quite worthy of Heaven yet; and Hell, the place where all who reject God and accept Satan go. Keeping this in mind, this life becomes rather important as far as our actions and reactions go.

If our soul’s final destination weighs completely on what we do on earth, wouldn’t we think twice before “taking this” or “doing that.” Wouldn’t we consider how could affect our mortal being? I know I have that consideration, which is why having the mindset of our only living once could potentially be extremely detrimental to our final destination.
We may YOLO on this earth but our souls do not OLO. So think twice before you act, your eternal happiness may depend on it.