Know you ARE going to die

In this amazing book that I'm reading, A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, Owen sees a grave with his name and date of death on it. He freaks out. Then, over the next few years, you see him so busy. He's always doing lots of things. Working really hard.

I think he might have been this way anyway but imagine if you see that you are going to die 5 years from now. Are you gonna just roll up and wait for it to happen or are you going to suddenly get a new fervor to do, do, do?

I was standing on the bus thinking about this, and looking at the people on the bus. Such a lack of energy. Such fatigue. When we know we are possibly going to live 80, 90 or 100 years, though it goes by in a flash, it seems so long that it doesn't make us know that we are going to die. It doesn't force us to think about that. It doesn't give us that push to fill our lives as much as possible with whatever it is we want to fill it.

You ARE going to die. I AM going to die. Yes, I am... As scary as that is, it's going to happen. I am going to be put into the ground and my body is going to decompose. It is going to be disgusting. But it's going to happen and I only have a certain amount of time left here. And the time left is short. Very, very short. I hope to live till 120 : ) but that only leaves me around 93 years left.

QE