Nov
25
2009
When death is knocking at your door, money fades in importance. It is so easy to delude ourselves: that your time on this earth is forever. But when the realization comes it is running out (often due to illness or old age) your money (and possessions) are no longer that important.
All of a sudden other things come to the forefront: your relationship with loved ones, maybe your legacy also. Your possessions which maybe you spent a lifetime accumulating do not matter that much.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and the richest person in the whole world, realized that; when he founded with his wife what is today’s largest private foundation pouring in it more and more of his energy and resources (billions of dollars) in that endeavor.
In my case, I can not take my journals, books and music I spent a lifetime collecting with me when I go. I have to figure out what is truly important in my life. I do not want to waste time.
Often when someone faces his/her deathbed and realizes the way they spent their time really does not matter. Your impending death shifts your priorities and also forces you to reexamine your value system.
Too many people die alone because they did not invest time in others. Did not Jesus say, “When you lose your life, you find it”. I think that is a paraphrase.
When you are in the dusk of your life, you find out the most valuable commodity you possess is time. All the money in the world can not buy you one more minute on earth.
That realization forces you to examine your life carefully. It is never too late to make a change although it is easy to regret the time you lost in fruitless endeavors. You can never turn back the clock but there is always today.
