Daily archives of “November 21, 2011

Cheating Death

A part of Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford went like this:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.

I could say that I’ve cheated Death once. I came so close to Death that it would’ve changed my entire perspective on Life. Unfortunately, I was still too young to understand. Maybe I’m still too young now to understand it all.

But Death is still there, whether we understand it or not. We can’t foresee it, but we can be sure that each second that passes brings us ever closer to it. Just thinking about this can have a profound effect on you.

What haveĀ  I done?

What do I want to achieve? Have I achieved it?

How do I want to be remembered?

In the past 27-odd years, have I contributed anything for the good of my family/church/friends/community/workplace?

How much time do I have until my fragile body succumbs to the various damages I have done to it throughout my life?

Have I taken good care of my body?

Have I learned anything from all the mistakes I made?

Have I changed to be better?

Have I been kind?

These questions, and a lot more, came storming and conquered my puny mind. I do hope that I can answer those questions honestly, and do something to change my answers if I don’t like it.

I’ve cheated Death once. I don’t think Death likes to be cheated twice, nor will I be able to cheat it again.

Here’s to Death, the single best invention of Life!