I hope to reach the age of 100 healthy and happy and handsome.

How long do you still I want to live? Sometimes,I asked my friends this question. And I get different answers. There is nothing surprising at all. I was not even surprised when many of them have not thought of that question before.

One said that she wants to live 50 more years. That’s the time she needs to fulfill all and eventually enjoy her dreams. She is 22 and she sees herself retiring at the age of 65. With her millions, at least she can enjoy her life touring around the world.

Another one said that she wants to live forever, but since that is not possible, she is happy to live until her 80s. She is enjoying her job now, but she wants to have her business later on. A true-blue fan of Robert Kiyosaki.(1) She said she wants to retire after two years. She is 25. She smiled at me and said that she wants to have financial freedom before she reaches the young age of 30. By financial freedom, she meant having at least a million peso in her bank account. She also wants to support her family. Her father, a school dean, opted to avail of his early retirement, to stay home. I know so many people, literally with millions of pesos in their bank accounts, who are still dreaming to be financially free. Some of them have travelled to many countries as a reward for leading their MLM businesses. They however, have to clock 18 hours,  to finish the list of more than a hundred prospect, to meet prospets and train their team everyday.

My friend C said she wanted to die young. She hates to see herself growing old because her health has not been cooperating with her. It is a big hassle to live longer, she told me. She is now a lawyer, but is still wondering what she wants to do with her young life.

I hope to reach the age of 100 healthy and happy and handsome. This is not a joke my friend. I really want to stay handsome (hahaha). But as you know, I see life more than its length and quality. I have another question.

So, what do you want to do between now and the rest of your life?

Again, I get various answers. Most of people I know are not sure of their answers. Even those who proclaimed that they have surrendered their lives to God are not sure about their answers, until they come up with a cliche: work and work to fulfill all our dreams.

Then I pressed on with a third question, which a lot of them find very morbid. Your doctor told you that you have ONLY SIX MONTHS TO LIVE. What will you do?

The answers revealed so much about how people value life. Most of us live as if we will live forever. How many of us are wasting our time over something which will not make a difference in our lives and that  of other people? I know people who gamble all day, who spend their weeknights drinking, who enjoy themselves watching wowowee for three hours everyday, crying with others who pinned their hopes on getting something from the show. I know of men who talked about Manny Pacquiao and his heroism every chance they get, while their hero had invested his precious time in the gym to prepare for that fight that “united the nation” and earned for him millions of dollars. Those men are still talking. So, the Philosopher in the Ecclesiastes one again declared, “Life is useless”.(2)

When Randy Pausch delivered his final speech in Oprah (3), many people were touched. I think the most touching moment is to see a dying man speaking about life. We are reminded that we too shall die. We shall die, not in accordance to our plan, but God’s plan. We might die next year, next month, next week, tommorow. Or today. We do not know. The gun of time is now pointed to our head. It is just a matter to time. We are getting near to our deathbed every day.

I realized that it is not dying that we fear. It is the non-fulfillment of our dreams. It is the realization that we failed in life. We fear to face the reality that we can be pull out of the stage even though the music is still playing.

Life is short my friend. This could be our last day. This could be our last chance.

What will you do today?

Here is a verse you can print. Paste it wherever you can see it everyday.

“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind that days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away.” (4)

Jef Menguin

Notes.
1. Robert Kiyosaki is the author of the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
2. Ecclesiastes is a book in the Old Testament. You can get the book here.
3. Randy Pausch was diagnosed of cancer. After that, he delivered lectures which included Achieving Your Childhood dreams. YOu can view of copy here.
4. Psalm 39.4

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