M
midori
Guest
I popped in for daily Mass one day at a church in a city about an hour away from where I live, and then I realized there was a funeral going on. I decided to go on in anyways, but just sit in the back so I wouldn’t bother anyone-- and ran into a bunch of people from my church. “Oh, I’m so glad you could make it!”
It turns out that it was for the unborn twin grandchildren of one of the ladies at my church. They made it to about six? seven? eight? months’ gestation, but had health complications, and they died before actually making it to birth. But at the end, before dismissal, the parents took a few minutes to spell out what the twins had done for them in the brief period they were together— and they had done tremendous things, for the parents as individuals, for the parents as a married couple, and so on. So the twins had accomplished their life’s purpose— even without ever getting to birth. Whereas I, sitting out there in the congregation— had I really done the best I could with the time and resources given to me? Absolutely not.
So you can ask, “Why does a parrot have a longer lifespan than Little Joey, who died in a fire?” or “Why does a tortoise have a longer lifespan than Great-Grandma Susan?” or “Why does a horse have a longer lifespan than Little Bobby, who died in a pool drowning?”
“Elderly” back in the day may have been 40 or 50 years old. Social Security started in 1935, and was pegged to age 62, because people weren’t expected to live more than a year or two longer than that-- so you’d only collect for a bit, and then you die. Nowadays, with improved health and sanitation and nutrition, you have a quarter of all (people? Americans? Europeans?) surviving to age 90 or above.
So, what do you do with those 30-40-50 extra years of life that people 100 years ago couldn’t dream of expecting? 200 years ago? 500 years ago?
St. Therese died at age 24. Joan of Arc was 19. Catherine of Siena was 33. Augustine of Hippo was 75.
None of us are guaranteed a day. Rather than worrying about how long our life is compared to, say, Ming the Clam or Hanako the Koi, work on doing the best with what time you’ve been given— because it’s already more than so many other people have been allotted.
It turns out that it was for the unborn twin grandchildren of one of the ladies at my church. They made it to about six? seven? eight? months’ gestation, but had health complications, and they died before actually making it to birth. But at the end, before dismissal, the parents took a few minutes to spell out what the twins had done for them in the brief period they were together— and they had done tremendous things, for the parents as individuals, for the parents as a married couple, and so on. So the twins had accomplished their life’s purpose— even without ever getting to birth. Whereas I, sitting out there in the congregation— had I really done the best I could with the time and resources given to me? Absolutely not.
So you can ask, “Why does a parrot have a longer lifespan than Little Joey, who died in a fire?” or “Why does a tortoise have a longer lifespan than Great-Grandma Susan?” or “Why does a horse have a longer lifespan than Little Bobby, who died in a pool drowning?”
“Elderly” back in the day may have been 40 or 50 years old. Social Security started in 1935, and was pegged to age 62, because people weren’t expected to live more than a year or two longer than that-- so you’d only collect for a bit, and then you die. Nowadays, with improved health and sanitation and nutrition, you have a quarter of all (people? Americans? Europeans?) surviving to age 90 or above.
So, what do you do with those 30-40-50 extra years of life that people 100 years ago couldn’t dream of expecting? 200 years ago? 500 years ago?
St. Therese died at age 24. Joan of Arc was 19. Catherine of Siena was 33. Augustine of Hippo was 75.
None of us are guaranteed a day. Rather than worrying about how long our life is compared to, say, Ming the Clam or Hanako the Koi, work on doing the best with what time you’ve been given— because it’s already more than so many other people have been allotted.
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