Why must conversions always come so late? Why do people always apologize to corpses? ~David Brin
Back when I was 21 years old, I’d just been married a few weeks, and I’d started my first “grown-up” job, as the Associate Minister of the Wewoka Church of Christ, a member of the congregation died, and her funeral was scheduled for my birthday. Things went OK, until it was time for the family to have a “last good-bye” with their departed loved one.
A woman, who was probably 50 [but looked old to the me I was then] stood before the body, weeping. Then she spoke to the body.
“I’m sorry, mama,” she said. “I’m so sorry. I’ll take care of everything, mama.” Then the lady reached into the casket and grabbed her mother’s body up in her arms and started to pull her out of the box. Of course she wasn’t trying to remove the body, but just to hug her mother, but I have to admit that my knees got wobbly, and I had no clue what to do. The people from the funeral home came dashing down the aisle, got the lady and the body separated, and tucked the old girl back in her casket. When I found the Brin quote I was reminded of that incident.
Is it a general truth that we fail to use our time properly? Do we weep at the grave because we realize there is no longer any chance to do or say what we now wish we’d done, and said?
Leo Buscaglia, PhD, use to tell a story about assigning writing assignments to his students about what they would do if they only had one day left to live, or 1 year left to live, or something like that. Buscaglia would discuss the content of those student essays and then ask why they were waiting.
I’d tell my mother that I love her. Then tell her.
I’d would write a novel. Start writing.
I’d run naked on the beach. Then strip off.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting. ~Dr. Seuss
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Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. ~Wayne Dyer
Back when I was 21 years old, I’d just been married a few weeks, and I’d started my first “grown-up” job, as the Associate Minister of the Wewoka Church of Christ, a member of the congregation died, and her funeral was scheduled for my birthday. Things went OK, until it was time for the family to have a “last good-bye” with their departed loved one.
A woman, who was probably 50 [but looked old to the me I was then] stood before the body, weeping. Then she spoke to the body.
“I’m sorry, mama,” she said. “I’m so sorry. I’ll take care of everything, mama.” Then the lady reached into the casket and grabbed her mother’s body up in her arms and started to pull her out of the box. Of course she wasn’t trying to remove the body, but just to hug her mother, but I have to admit that my knees got wobbly, and I had no clue what to do. The people from the funeral home came dashing down the aisle, got the lady and the body separated, and tucked the old girl back in her casket. When I found the Brin quote I was reminded of that incident.
Is it a general truth that we fail to use our time properly? Do we weep at the grave because we realize there is no longer any chance to do or say what we now wish we’d done, and said?
Leo Buscaglia, PhD, use to tell a story about assigning writing assignments to his students about what they would do if they only had one day left to live, or 1 year left to live, or something like that. Buscaglia would discuss the content of those student essays and then ask why they were waiting.
I’d tell my mother that I love her. Then tell her.
I’d would write a novel. Start writing.
I’d run naked on the beach. Then strip off.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting. ~Dr. Seuss
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Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. ~Wayne Dyer
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As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do. ~Zachary Scott
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Why always "not yet"? Do flowers in spring say "not yet"? ~Norman Douglas
As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do. ~Zachary Scott
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Why always "not yet"? Do flowers in spring say "not yet"? ~Norman Douglas
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As if you could kill time without injuring eternity. ~Henry David Thoreau, "Economy," Walden, 1854
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Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways. ~Stephen Vincent Benét
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And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. ~Abraham Lincoln
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There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. ~George Santayana, "War Shrines," Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies, 1922
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For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. ~Fr. Alfred D'Souza
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Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead. ~Scottish Proverb
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To always be intending to live a new life, but never find time to set about it - this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking from one day to another till he be starved and destroyed. ~Walter Scott
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I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see. ~John Burroughs
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Never forget that you must die; that death will come sooner than you expect... God has written the letters of death upon your hands. In the inside of your hands you will see the letters M.M. It means "Memento Mori" - remember you must die. ~J. Furniss, Tracts for Spiritual Reading
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There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back. ~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
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To change one's life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions. ~William James
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