One hundred years from now…
This was written by my cousin David Hirning:
Thoughts on Today
One hundred years from now, it won’t make a bit of difference.
-James P. Craven (my grandfather, now deceased)
Today is a new day. What’s special about today? Maybe you’d say, “Nothing.” Or is there?
The average life expectancy of human beings is roughly 75 years, or about 27,400 days. That’s a heck of a lot of time. It’s hard to put your mind around a period of a thousand days, let alone 27,000. However, some of you might say, a good chunk of those days are spent growing up, before you become an “adult” in charge of your own destiny. So let’s break it down a little more.
What if you’re 40 years old, like I will be this June? According the averages, you’ve got about 13,000 days left—less than half your allotted total. Many people profess a certain dread when turning an age that ends in a zero—as if there is a significant difference between an age that begins with, say, a 3, versus an age that begins with a 4.
At around age 40 people often begin to take stock of their lives. They’ve probably settled into a career, perhaps started a family, and watched their grandparents and maybe even one or both parents pass away. When they reach the big four-oh, the thinking goes, people begin to ponder their own mortality. What have they done so far with my life? Can I change and do something different, if I want, or am I too entrenched in my well-worn rut to change course?
Let’s think of this another way. When you woke up this morning, you were granted another day. You are the one that decides how to use that day. You can move dully through it, doing the same things with the same mindset, thinking the same thoughts as the day before. Maybe you’re focusing on the coming weekend, or an upcoming holiday, or your next vacation, or even a distant year (the infamous “someday”). Anything but thinking about today.
Most people fail to live in the now, which means they miss out on a lot. They don’t notice the child dancing next to his mother at the bus stop. Or the way the sun reflects off the clouds, warming the earth so we can live on it. The sensation of your own breathing, your heart pumping the blood through your veins to keep you alive. The song on the radio that dates back to your teenage years, with all the attendant frustration and confusion and joy of that time. Remember, back when you couldn’t wait to grow up and be able to do whatever you pleased?
If today is number 13,000, then tomorrow is 12,999. You can sit around and worry about tomorrow, or any of the other coming days and what they will bring. Maybe you’re already mentally living in day 12,995. Or 12,600. Or even 2,000. Of course, you realize that none of those days are guaranteed. Once, a wise television sports anchor, noting that a particular football player’s physical status was “day to day,” added the enigmatic coda, “But aren’t we all?”
That brings us back around to today. What can you do today? You can make someone smile. You can hug your child. You can enjoy your lunch, read a thought-provoking book, write a letter, laugh at a joke that you heard from a coworker, call a friend you haven’t talked to in awhile and catch up. You can tell your mom (or your sibling, or your spouse) that you love them. You can live.
Or you can move through today without noticing, without feeling, without appreciating that you are here, now. It could be number 13,000, or it could be your last. One day, it will be your last. So don’t just let today slip by. Make it count.
[David Hirning]
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