LIFE GOES BY SO QUICKLY!
As a cow likes to chew on the cud so old men like to ruminate on life. At my age when your birthday comes round you sense it is an achievement! Around my birthday last year I wrote a piece entitled “Life is but a moment!” I assume people tend not to remember what I have written so I decided to re-write that piece and publish it again. If anything sounds familiar then pat yourself on the back because your memory must be in order.
Firstly let me tell you a Seniors birthday joke. A small boy phoned his Grandma on her birthday. He asked how old she was. When she said “Eighty” there was a long pause. Then the grandson said “Wow, Grandma, did you start at one!”
Actually we all started before one but none of us can imagine how we got to our age so quickly. Once we are past the threescore years and ten we have to think we are in bonus territory. However, as a general observation I believe our society thinks passively towards the onset of death. We think it happens to other people. It happens to those around us. Well, believe it or not, it happens to us too. Surprisingly, the ratio has always been one to one! Consequently, when people arrive at my advanced age, it is not uncommon to take stock of days gone by and life as a whole.
The questions flood in. Has my life been meaningful? Have I achieved anything while here? Have I made a difference to someone’s life? Will I be remembered? Will somebody find something nice to say at my memorial? – if there is one! Did I make any valuable contributions into the lives of work colleagues, friends and family? Did my children learn anything helpful from my attitude or conversation? So many questions to which may come no definitive answers.
What is it that we want to leave behind? We could wish for many things, maybe noted achievements or significant recognition but I guess mostly, that people will have pleasant memories of who we were and what positive contributions we made into their lives.
I know I have not been a bright star in the night sky but secretly, I hope that I have been more than a passing blip on the radar screens of life. Probably like many others, I would like to think that I have made some mark on the wall of life which says “I was here!” However, in case I have fallen short, which is most likely, my daily mantra is – let me do something good today so that others will know I have passed this way!
