Tuesday, January 10, 2006

The Gift of Today

There were a number of very nice and very empathetic comments to my last post in which I shared ... hmmm what exactly did you share AC? ... a few fleeting thoughts about death. No ... it wasn't so much about thoughts as about a feeling that has come over me by times lately. Regardless, it was good to hear from you, kind of a rallying of the blogging troops that I appreciated. (If you didn't already do so, do check out Turtle Guy's post called Who Dies? in which he links to a song by James Keelaghan called, strangely enough, Who Dies? The link to the recording is at the bottom of his post, right after the lyrics.)


Thirteen years ago, I received a call from my brother in law in Toronto. His five year old daughter had died suddenly. Cuppa posted much of the story in her Angels and Shining Stars post last month, so I won't repeat it here, but the death of a child gets a guy to thinking.


Several years ago, Cuppa had a cancer scare. I feared the worse: almost had the poor woman dead and buried. Happily, that's all it was — a scare. Someday it won't be, however. It gets a guy to thinking.


As I posted yesterday, I have been a part of three deathbed vigils. It gets a guy to thinking.


Whatever else I think, I have come to hold the opinion that our lives all feel about the same length, more or less at least. We all live one hundred percent of our lives. If I were to have died ten years ago, or if I were to die ten years from now, I don't think that my sense of duration upon this earth would be much different on my deathbed. Time is like that: a misty vapour that you can't quite grasp. That's why I can still feel like a young whippersnapper — at least until I look in the mirror or try to haul my stiff bones out of bed in the morning.


It does give me comfort to think that those who die young probably don't have a sense of having lived a shorter life. Oh, I'm sure that they have regrets about not living long enough to see children grow up, or grandchildren come into this world, or a million other things, but I don't think their sense of duration is really much different.


We have been given today. That's what life is really — today. I need to revel in today, to do something today that satisfies my inner self, something profitable for others, something good. If I always take care of today, my yesterdays will take care of themselves.


 

8 comments:

George Breed said...

Yessir, Brother Anvilcloud. Yessir. This moment now. Am I living this moment now? Immersing fully in this moment, saying hello to you, enjoying the blog atmosphere you create, sipping hot black coffee, and trying not to get the crumbs from this peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the keyboard. Thank you for your hospitality.

Dale said...

That title reminded me of something I heard once, years ago.

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow's a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."

I visited Dave's blog but couldn't get the song to play. What the heck's an "MP4"??

mreddie said...

Today is indeed what it is about, if we look into the rearview mirror of yesterday too much, we will run into the vehicle of today. In the same vein, if we are staring out into the future, the result could also be a collision with the present. Thanks for the reminder. ec

Bonita said...

My thoughts are similarly felt, and I'll add it is best to really pay attention, now, before vision fails, and hearing, and the mind. Now is the time to savor and appreciate.

Anonymous said...

"If I always take care of today, my yesterdays will take care of themselves."

and so will your tomorrows :-)

Tom.... said...

today is over....did I do it well? only the Big Guy knows for sure....but being the selfish human that I am, I want another one tomorrow...that is about all we can ask..another chance, another day..

Matthew May said...

Great post :)

Live Every moment of your lives.

Lora said...

Live in the moment. It seems that we spend our lives learning and relearning this lesson. Yet so much of our energy and thoughts are focused on the future and it is the tradegties that really bring our perspective back in line.