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PRINTER-FRIENDLY

Recently, I got the shocking and disturbing news that a dear friend of mine is facing a life threatening disease. A million things immediately go through your mind when you get this kind of news. First, you think of what this friend means to you and how their loss would impact your own life and the world around you. Then you go through the parade of thoughts about family, friends, business concerns, and an endless stream of images that assault you.

Thankfully, my friend received an early diagnosis, a quick and successful treatment, and a positive prognosis. Thankfully, above all, my friend is a fighter. If you were taking bets right now on who might live to be 100, I would put a serious wager on my friend's chances.

After the immediate shock and fear that comes with the potential life threatening news, we all begin to assess our own lives. We are left with the reality that my friend is going to die, I'm going to die, and, my dear reader, you are going to die. As important as it seems to all of us--how many years of life we have--what is infinitely more vital is the question of how much life is in our years.

We all know people who are in their 80s or 90s who are full of life, joy, and optimism. They are looking forward to great things ahead, and they are excited about what life has to offer. On the other hand, we all know people who are barely out of their teen years or early adulthood who seem dull, listless, and have a negative outlook toward the days ahead. I think one of the factors that differentiate the positive from the negative people is how they view the best days of their lives.

Negative people at any age somehow believe the best times of their life are behind them. They are in the process of dying, no matter how many more years their heart continues to beat and how long they take up space here on our planet. Conversely, there are people who have lived a century of life here on earth. They have been everywhere, seen everything, and done everything but still they have a lust for life that energizes everyone fortunate enough to come in contact with them. These people believe that the best days of their lives are still ahead.

Death will find us all some day. May he find you and me excited, energized, passionate, and experiencing everything this existence has to offer. And as for my friend with the troubling diagnosis, he will continue to live life as the gift it is and make a difference for those around him. He will drink deeply from the nectar of life, and I look forward to sharing many of those drinks with him.

Today's the day!

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Previously we published on this site a poem entitled ?I am Glad You Are in My Dash,? indicating that the author was unknown. We recently learned that this poem was written by Linda M. Ellis of Linda's Lyrics and that Ms. Ellis owns and has registered the copyright to her poem. We are glad that we can now credit Ms. Ellis as the author and copyright owner of "The Dash."

05 January 2009