Sunday, October 8, 2006

A Different View

I sat out in the sun beside Chris, 99.  He says life is too LONG.  He wishes he had died seven years ago, when his wife did, in a car crash.

I have just written life is too SHORT.  There's more to do than time to do it. I didn't argue with him. Life is too short for that.

I wonder if I will change my view?  What about YOUR life: too long or too short?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's hard to say.. I don't know how I would feel at 99..Sounds like he is lonely and misses his wife a lot....I;m afraid of death I would like to ask Chris if when you get older the fear of dieing get easier...
Donna In TEXAS

Anonymous said...

between "97&98" I almost died 3 times they told me i would live 10 to 15 years at the most if this and that , 2007 we will see if they are right! i'm comfortable with  it dying is peaceful!
if you are in alot of pain 24 hours is along time life is both long and short just matters who is talking about it ! I love your art work !

Anonymous said...

It could be either way depending on my health. As long as I have all "my ducks in a row" and not in unbearable pain I would like to live a very long life. As you have proved there are so many things to do. Paula

Anonymous said...

I want to live as long as I am needed. Bam

Anonymous said...

Difficult question. I think I will want to live as long as I can if I am comfortable, both considering pain and material needs. If I were to end up with    uncurable  'something' I would want it to be over.  During my sleep preferably.
Jackie

Anonymous said...

so far I think its too short  
Sandra

Anonymous said...

life is too short:) have a good week

Deb

Anonymous said...

too short. I have too many things to accomplish yet, and it seems as if I'm running out of time.
Jude
http://journals.aol.com/jmorancoyle/MyWay

Anonymous said...

WHILE I FEEL FOR YOUR FRIEND, FOR I TOO LOST MY HUSBAND THIS YEAR....I HAVE TO AGREE WITH YOU CHUCK.LIFE IS TOO SHORT.
HUGS,
CARLENE

Anonymous said...

99?  i can not imagine living that long....my precious grandma was 98, almost 99 when she died but she had been saying she was going to die for 50 yrs before she died.
lisa

Anonymous said...

Too short...maybe would be best if the first part lastest longer, so we could get our acts together way before the body starts slowing us down.
Kate

Anonymous said...

Typographers don't use the term "hyphen." They have two sizes of "dashes;" everything else is a "rule"

(Aside: sailors handle "lines," not "ropes;" printers deal with "rules," not "lines" -- gotta love jargon.)

Back to the dashes, the shorter of the two is the "en dash" -- which is as long as a lower case "n" is wide in the typeface being used, and the longer version is an "em dash" -- you guessed it, as long as the letter "m".

OK, honesty in reporting requires me to admit that some printers DO acknowledge the "hyphen" and make it a bit shorter than the en dash. This admission only takes me farther from my point, however, which is...

The "best" length of a person's life has to be the ultimately most subjective measure in the world. Few of us get to choose that dimension and if we could, knowing "how much time we have left" might just drive many of us crazy.

The question, being therefore subjective, may best be addressed by a poet. Here's a piece credited to Dylan Moses (yeah, I never heard of him either) that discusses longevity:

(please see part two – hopefully below)

Anonymous said...

The Dash

You see that dash on my tombstone,
between my birth and death.
How could that little punctuation
represent my every living breath

No one ever notices that insignificant line
But that mark in the middle of these two dates,
well it’s how I was defined

But It shouldn’t make a difference,
because I’m already history
I never thought that my final reminder
would be such a mystery

You can see when I was born,
you can see the day I died
What you can't see between the numbers,
well that’s how hard I tried

You can read my inscription,
but it doesn’t really matter what it means
Cuz one thing it will never tell you
is how much I had to bleed

I fought for my country in two wars,
I was the model of persistence
And all I’ve got to show for my struggles
is this hyphenated existence

Well I shouldn’t be complaining,
cuz my life couldn’t have been much stronger
But since it’s gonna be here forever,
you could of made that line a little longer

We live our lives trying to make a mark on this earth
We spend our time trying to defend our worth
So when you come to see me please don’t ignore
The dash that you never noticed means so much more  

http://www.garageband.com/song?%7Cpe1%7CS8LTM0LdsaSkaFS1ZWg

Anonymous said...

A person should live as long as he or she is still having fun.  And if that person is healthy but not having fun, then some changes are in order!  You, my friend, are doing great in that regard! - Karen