Heritage

With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us. ~Michael Cibenko


Life's not always fair. Sometimes you can get a splinter even sliding down a rainbow. ~Terri Guillemets


To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. ~Emily Dickinson


Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. ~Arthur Miller


He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

The Man and I were having a discussion last night and he said that 'life is cruel; nothing ever turns out the way you plan.' That made me think….is life REALLY cruel? How can we actually plan for unforeseen events? In my mind I think that life can be difficult however I think that the cruelty that comes upon us is sometimes a result of our own choices. I believe that everything happens for a reason and our perceptions and how we react is what makes or breaks us. Being a Social Psychology major this is what is taught over-and-over. Our character determines our actions, our circumstances just reveals our true character.

Life is fragile, no matter what none of us will make it out of this life alive. We have to ensure that we are living each day to the fullest and loving those around us as much as we can. I am a big fan of never leaving any good thing left unsaid because we just never know when we will cross over into eternity. I am reminded of a news story that I recently read about a doctor who had walked out of an exam room seconds before when he heard a loud noise inside. He opened the door and found that a rock had crashed through the ceiling and landed exactly where he had been standing moments earlier. Had he not moved then he would have been hit with this rock resulting in his death. We just never know when our Maker will call us home so we have to be prepared every second of every day BUT we cannot live our lives like doomsday is upon us. Smile, laugh, love and live each day to its fullest potential.  If I am given another day on this earth I want to hug my children a bit tighter, tell The Man how very important he is to me, love my family and friends in a way that makes them know how I feel about them. I do not want to cross over into eternity with my loved ones questioning how I felt about them.

Finally, I am reading the book The Same Kind of Different as Me and death is an ever present reality. The author’s wife looses her battle with colon cancer but the lives she touched are immeasurable. She lived her life serving others and giving away her love. I am much like her because I am not one who tries to take things from anyone, I am a giver. I don’t think about how others should love me I think about how I can share my love with others. Their actions do NOT determine MY reaction. I have to live with what I have done and as the author’s wife, she touched so many lives by living her life as such. Of course those whom we leave behind will have to deal with the collateral damage of loosing us but they will also be left with irreplaceable memories from the time we spent together.

IF today was YOUR last day how would you spend it? We leave behind our heritage; the rest is just a bonus.