Life is a Double-Edged Sword
The Meaning of Life
We all get one life. Or, at least, that’s my belief. ONE. No more, no less. Wow, you and I are soooo lucky. Do you know what the odds are of even being born? About one in 400 trillion, give or take. So, if you are reading this, you were one of the birth lottery winners. Congratulations! What are you going to do with all that life?
The Edge
Some of you will waste most of it working at jobs you hate. You will spend the next 40 years working (or pretending to while checking your Facebook feed) that is likely making your boss or company more prosperous — the greedy buggers!
Speaking of social media, maybe that’s where you will spend most of your life. Drooling over some influencer’s latest promotional products, taking selfies of your face all puckered up to entertain your friends, dissing celebrities for gaining five pounds, or expressing outrage over a politician who is not telling you what you want to hear!
Or maybe you’ll cuddle up on the couch to catch the latest reality TV so you can envy all those beautiful people; since your life sucks because you don’t have their money or looks. Life just isn’t fair!
But hey, you could get a raise at work or maybe another week tacked onto the already two weeks you get for annual vacation. Let’s calculate that: Out of the next 14,600 work days (give or take), you will get 560 (give or take) days off. And out of those 560 days, you will have to stay home because the cheap bastards you work for don’t share their profits with the workers. You will hang around the house making minor repairs, catch up on your sleep, and so maybe fifty percent of those days — 280 — you’ll do something virtuous or exciting. Maybe.
Wait! I’m not done. You’ll have plenty of time to do all those things you planned on doing in your Golden Years so long as your body and mind are still in good working order. Just how much does an old age pension actually pay? But you’ll think about that tomorrow. Putting your feet up on the coffee table and watching Netflix sounds like a much better idea right now.
Of course, there is always the real chance that all those cash lottery tickets you’ve been purchasing will bring you a windfall. Could happen. Then you’ll get busy living! But a million bucks doesn’t really go that far anymore, now does it? Let’s make it fifty million. What a day that will be!
I bet you’ll go out and buy all that stuff you’ve been itching to acquire. New house — make it a mansion, fill it with lots of stuff, buy more stuff to stuff the garage, buy a vacation home and fill it with more stuff. Oh, I just had a thought! Now you can get that boob job you’ve always wanted and those fabulous, gigantic lips. Pucker up, baby! What the heck, buy some for your friends too. Be generous. Maybe you could even trade your old spouse in for a new model with those improvements already built in. Want a new pet? How about a horse? Why not buy a stable full of them?
You could vacation with the best, maybe even meet a celebrity or two, and they’ll let you call them by their first names! Cool! Go ahead, buy that yacht to match theirs and name it, “I’m the Boss of Me.” You’ll be popular.
The Other Edge
Okay, so you’re not as shallow as I’m making you sound. You’re not going to quit your job should money fall into your lap — why would you? You love what you do! You’ll just have more time to devote to it. Your life is already a rich tapestry, and you could teach others how to do it, too. Aside from being a little more comfortable, you’ve already got it all. You love your spouse, kids, family and friends. You really did win the lottery!
You are already making the world a better place, one person, one action at a time. You may tell yourself that’s not earth-shattering, but to that one person, one animal, one family, you may have moved a mountain! Your words and actions are changing a life, starting an avalanche big enough to revolutionize an entire community. When you are driving your car and you let someone in, you hope that that person will turn around and do the same for someone else. At least you like to think they will.
Reality TV — what’s that? An influencer — hmmm…is that what I do when I’m building a fort with my kids? Netflix sounds great, but it will have to wait until I’ve finished teaching my daughter’s Grade 3 class how to ice skate.
Change starts with one person, one idea, one act. Do you want to witness a miracle? An act of kindness will change you and in doing so, it can change your life. You will start feeling good about yourself, good things start coming your way and the petals of life start unfolding. It works! You will feel so good that you’ll feel guilty. As Ebenezer Scrooge said, “I don’t deserve to be this happy.” Ah, but you do.
I would suggest that the meaning of life is to stuff it with as many experiences as you can. Enjoy your job each day, love people and all Mother Nature’s creatures, and help others so you can feel good about who you are every day. Your legacy, your spirit, the meaning of your life will live on.
So fill up those days, every single day. You only get one life. I can’t think of any other reason we are here.
But you already knew that, didn’t you? So forget the cash lottery. You already won. Spread the joy. As my husband always reminds me, “It’s always a good day when you can buy groceries.”
