Here today ... gone tomorrow?

Every time I say goodbye to the folks and the aunts, I always think, "what if it turns out to be the last time ever that I see them?"

Death can happen any moment.
At any age.
You think that the passengers in that Air Asia plane considered the possibility that they were departing forever?

But, we don't seem to live our life with an understanding that death awaits us.
Awaits each and every one of us.
Rich or poor.
Young or old.
Healthy or otherwise.
Death awaits.

The following couplet from the old country says it best:

नाकाले म्रियते जंतुः विद्धः शरशतैरपि । 
कुशकंटकविद्धोऽपि प्राप्तकालो न जीवति ॥ 
When your time is not yet up, even if one throws a hundred arrows at you – nothing happens to you.
However, when it is up, even a blade of grass can kill you.

Or, to put you at ease (!) we could say it in a different form:

मृत्योर्बिभेषि किं बाल न स भीतं विमुंचति । 
अद्यवाब्दशतांते वा मृत्युर्वै प्राणिनां ध्रुवः ॥ 
Oh boy! why are you afraid of death? Death does not spare those who are afraid. 
It may happen right now or after a hundred years. But it is certain. 

I would think that there will be wonderful clarity about one's life if only we viewed our existence that way.
Would we really care to spend that additional hour at work?
Would we bother to yell at the driver who sped past on a foggy early morning?
Or the shopper who jumps into the line ahead of those waiting?
Who cares, right?  Because, we have much better things to do with the precious few seconds or decades that we have.

Life is one game of probabilities, my friend, over which you have no control.  You think otherwise and want to comment?  There is no certainty that I will even be around to read your comments on this post--though, I am fairly confident that I will be around to debate with you!

Because there is no certainty that we will be around, let the people you care for know how much you really care for them.
Right now.
Stop reading this post.
Go, go, go ... shoooooooo ...