When my mom was stricken with cancer, when it was advanced, we often had in the back of our minds, "Might as well do such and such and don't hold back - who knows how long we have with her?"
One of the things she wanted to do, but never did, was to visit our relatives in Australia. Granted, my mother was not one for travel, and plain procrastination was one reason we've never gone to Sydney, but another factor was the cost. The bottom line.
However, when you're faced with death, money becomes less of an object. Inconvenience becomes less of an object. "What would people think?" becomes less of an object. When you're faced with death.
Sadly, it was too late.
My mom said that when she recovered, she would go on a holiday with my dad. She did not recover, so instead of going down under, she went up and over. Still, it's a comfort to me, to know that at the end, her values became clearer. Or, rather, it became easier to decide. After all, when one particular shot of chemo costs ten thousand bucks, what's a round trip to Australia? Child's play.
Yes, it's possible to waste money by spending it out of turn. But it's also possible to waste money by not spending it when the time calls for it. The nature of money is to be spent. We should spend it on worthwhile things. The same goes for time. Time must be spent wisely. Perhaps infinitely more so than money.
When we're faced with possible death, we're willing to "let go" and "just do it". After all, you don't know how many days you have left.
Here's the thing - we're all going to die. We may not be sick or serving in a war zone, but even if it's going to be peacefully, in bed, many decades hence - we're all dying. And we don't really know what tomorrow's going to bring. Sure, it'll probably be the usual routine, but no one knows for sure, really. So, if we're all dying anyway, why aren't we living today to the full?
Hope, to me, is sparked by the fact of death. Today is full of potential waiting for our actions to make them manifest. While we live, we can - so we should - answer the quiet, persistent call that whispers so loudly deep within us.
Lydia Netzer
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