Live life like you're gonna die
Because you're gonna
I hate to be the bearer of bad news
But you're gonna die
-- "You'll Have Time", William Shatner
Driving home tonight from work, I turned left onto 9W south instead of my normal right to go north. I had to go to the strip mall just south of the bridge and deposit a check at the ATM. That's where I was, when I heard the accident.
I didn't understand the sound at first, and it wasn't until I was leaving the ATM that I realized why I hadn't recognized it. It wasn't a normal "car-on-car" accident. It was "car-on-motorcycle". No grinding of two frames as they try to occupy the same space. It was more of simply the sound of the bike crashing into the ground by the guardrail. And the sound of the driver, landing a short distance away.
I never saw him move.
I won't say that he's definitely dead, but I will say that since they put his non-moving body in the back of the ambulance, and that ambulance hung around for some time before rolling slowly away, that I'm guessing it didn't go well for him.
He's just riding down the road and then his life was, presumably, over. Snap your fingers, and it happens randomly, just like that. Wrong place, wrong time, and you don't get to come home tonight, and your family gets that phone call, or that visit from a friend, that changes their lives forever.
I say this not to be morbid, and if you, gentle reader, knew the man in question, you have my heartfelt sympathies. I didn't know your friend, but clearly he had two friends with him at least who were all out enjoying a beautiful day for a bike ride. I had the top down on my convertible as well. It was one of those days, and he was enjoying it with his friends. May we all spend our last moments in life on a sunny beautiful springtime day doing what we enjoy in the company of friends.
Life is short. And every day that you don't tell the people in your life what they mean to you is a wasted day. What did you learn today? What did you accomplish today? If the answer is "nothing", you've wasted another day. And the number of days you get is limited. Who knows what the limit is, it's random, so don't bother saying to yourself "I'll do that later". Later may never come.
I never knew the guy on the motorcycle. But I think I'll be thinking about him for a long time to come.
It's not just short, it's also brutish and nasty. ;)
I asked a Buddist friend of mine once for the time. She replied: "It is now".
I know this all too well. Derek already knows this, but back towards the beginning of March, I had a major accident: my Jeep got flipped. Although I lost my iPod, I crawled out of it without so much as an ache, bruise or hangnail. Had _anything_ in the accident been different, I'd be probably like that guy or worse. Not a happy thought since I'm not quite finished with this whole life thing just yet...
Certainly does make you STOP and think about your life and those around you.
[rant]
"What did you learn today? What did you accomplish today? If the answer is "nothing", you've wasted another day."
I come to that answer everyday that I drive in to/home from work.
Accomplishing Task lists given by managers, doing something just to pay bills, bah. When I die, I don't want my only legacy /thing to remember me by, to be the things I did just to pay the bills. Unless that thing was my passion. And what I do now is no longer my passion.
/sigh
To bad I have to rediscover what passion.
[/rant]