Sudden death

I am sorry to learn of my friend’s father sudden demise. He was found sleeping by a member of the family. My heart goes out to my friend. In fact, I feel upset by the news.

Our local media has in recent times been running a series of advertisements to increase society’s awareness of hospice care and its patients. I remembered making a personal comment about that.

I would rather, like a hospice patient, live out the remaining of my life knowing the estimated time of my eventual death.

True. The suffering would be prolonged, the fear of impending death scary, and the sorrow of leaving my loved ones painful. But, there will be certainty in the knowledge of my departure. And like a deadline, I can work out my plans around the timeline.

Tie up loose ends, tell everyone of significance that I love them, give them hugs, talk to them, arrange for my funeral details. Write a short will and spend my money meaningfully. If there was enough time, I want to travel a bit. At least allow me the privilege of making it to Alaska to see the Northern Lights.

I rather suffer more than leave this world abruptly. Selfish as it may seem (since others suffer alongside a terminally ill person and savings will be depleted at alarming rates for treatment purposes), I really want to die after receiving an issued notice. The ideal situation would be that God tells us the age we will leave for his Kingdom. Wouldn’t we all speed up our pace and try to do everything we desire?

But that’s impossible. So wise men adhere to the maxim of "Making the most out of each day." (I almost wanted to say "Carpe Diem" but it is not as accurate).

A wake-up call for me indeed.

PS:And nope, I shan't touch on the fragility of life today, that's too heavy...