"Getting There"

       Last semester, one of our family friends passed away from pancreatic cancer.  He had just gotten married a few years prior, become a theology professor at Pacific Union College and fathered a beautiful baby boy.  Everything changed, however, when he was told he had less than 4 months to live.  Being a goal-orientated, driven person, I was so bothered by the idea that Dr. Ha was being stripped away from everything he had ever worked for. It just wasn’t fair. What was the point of his life? I thought. Why was his life cut short? He never even got to indulge in his successes. Did his life even serve a purpose?

       Whoa, hold on! Since when did our society (and myself) become so focused on “getting there” that we question the value of an individual’s life based on what he gained or who she became—to the point that our lives are not worthwhile unless we can prove with some tangible items that we are significant?  According to Veblen, success is materialistic; it is something to show off like status, career, wealth, family, leisure, etc. But what happens once you gain everything?  Or, in Dr. Ha’s case, when your life is cut short?  So much of our focus is set on “getting there” and too little emphasis is placed on the days we live in right NOW.  Upon hearing of Dr. Ha’s death, these words ran through my mind: if we don’t enjoy the whole process of being college students, finding someone to marry, becoming career professionals, etc., we still won’t be happy when these dreams come true. We must label our own personal success and not let others manipulate our definitions of a successful life. 

       Life is momentary. So why waste time buying the newest generation Iphone, designing the biggest house on the block, or focusing on other materialistic things to determine our success. We need to be happy with our lives and accomplishments as if we were dying the next day.  Because today is the day we were worrying about yesterday.