Being Human

If we knew when we were going to die, we'd do everything right the first time around. Because we knew we wouldn't have the chance to relive the moment again.

But being human, and being ignorant, we think there's always going to be a tomorrow. And another tomorrow. And yet another tomorrow.

And so it piles up. What we should do. What we want to do. The important things. The not-so-important things that become important things as the days and months and years fly by.

Until we realise one day, oh shit... where did the years go? What happened to the things I wanted to do, the things I should do, the people that had mattered to me?

So many hurts lie along the avenue of life. So many disappointments.

We live like we've got forever, but in truth, life is short. And precious. Why wait for tomorrow to say: I love you? Why let the fears hold us back from what we want to do? What we should do? Why let our pain keep us from trying new things? Keep us fenced in?

Why put off till tomorrow (and forever) what we can do today?

If we knew that we had just another 24 hours to live... will material possessions matter so much anymore? Will we want to spend at least 8 hours of it slaving at a job? Or will we start calling up everyone we care for to tell them we remember them, we cherish them in our hearts, we want them to know how much they mean to us, how we think of them when we're about to die. 

We go back to the arms of the people we love most. Because surely, on our deathbed, the last thing we would want to remember seeing are the faces of the people who mean the most to us. It would be a very sad thing, I think, to end up dying alone.

After all, in truth, when we leave this plane of existence, who cares that we leave behind a monument if there's no one to tell of it in the first place? What matters most, as a legacy, would be the memories we leave behind in the minds of the people who think of us.

The lives we touch. The people we leave behind. How they remember us. These would be our legacy.