Learn as if You Were Going to Live Forever…
Posted by galel | Posted in Personal | Posted on 14-01-2009-05-2008
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Learn as if you were going to live forever, live as if you were going to die tomorrow. - Mahatma Gandhi
How much would you want to know if you’d spend eternity walking around on Earth? A lot, right?
Alright, I’m going to get morbid on you but just play along:
You’ve had a routine physical exam, something looked a little strange to the doctor, so she sent you to get some blood work and some X-rays done. When you call up the hotline to get the test results, your doctor says, “I’d like to see you in the office to discuss the tests.”
When you arrive, the doctor tells you, “I’m sorry, but we’ve found some abnormalities, and we caught them too late.” When push comes to shove, you find out that you have weeks left to live before you die.
What would you do? You’d panic, right? “I still have more life to live! What about the people I’m going to leave behind??” Why is it that only when tragedy strikes that we think these things? Otherwise, we go about our daily lives not even thinking twice about how we can drop dead in an INSTANT.
While I hope you’re not obsessed with your mortality, the reason I bring this up is because the quote I read by Mahatma Gahndi this morning really resonated with me. It’s such a cliche’ that we hear always, “Life is short.” Guess what – it really is! It’s short, it goes by in the blink of an eye, and the last thing I want to be thinking when I’m 80 years old is, “Man, I wish I spent less time worrying about the present and just ENJOYED it.”
I just read an article in the Orange County Register about a young man and his father from Yorba Linda, CA who passed away in a small plane crash. The young man and his Dad were working on a house together. The young man was 26 years old, has a 1 year old child, and his wife is pregnant with another. 26 years old. My heart breaks for his wife and kids.
What have I been putting off until “later”? Later is TODAY. Go learn the language you want to learn. Go take that trip you’ve been putting off. Take your significant other to that place he or she has been wanting to go to for so long. Tell your kids what they mean to you. Tell someone you’re sorry. Red, Morgan Freeman’s character from The Shawshank Redemption says it best: “You either get busy livin’ or you get busy dyin’.”
Take action and start living!
great post. i totally agree. i think i’m a pretty positive person, but lately i’ve really tried to look at things from the best view and just enjoy life. and i will try to always work hard and improve everything that can be improved!
I totally agree with what you said. To think that everything is impermanent is one of my principle and it’s also one of the precept of the Buddhism philosophy which emphasize the fact that we should enjoy the present instant.