Daily Lesson from Life 06 April 2009

"Mon, Apr 06, 2009 The Straits Times - A matter of life & death: Survey

Q. What would you do if you have only 6-month to live?

A: 1 Spend time with loved ones; 2 Travel; 3 Live life to the fullest; 4 Enjoy; 5 Stopped working; 6 Indulged in material/physical pleasures like food, drink, clubbing or sex; 7 Live life as usual; 8 Be spiritual, pray, become a monk, read the Bible; 9 Stay at home; 10 Spend all money/Give back to society - donate to charity, do volunteer work."

This is the result of a survey commissioned by the Lien Foundation and conducted by the Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore recently. It seems to be in the order preference or the highest choice to the least selected choice.

Personally for me some of the 'answers' are not very specific and hence not very useful. e.g. Live life to the fullest? What does it mean? e.g. Enjoy? Again what does it mean?

Lessons for me are:

1. at one's death bed, the wish is that one has done all the right things as best he or she could and with no regret in passing over to the next world, whatever it may be;

2. thinking about death is not such a bad thing if it help us to become focused on the big question of: what does existence mean for us or each one of us? If up to the time of reflection one's life is not very meaningful and helpful, there is still time to change and make a positive impact;

3. personally, if I can fulfill my life vision of: continuous effort of being a good father, husband, son, and human being on the personal level, and being a good professional that bring positive impact to others/self/organization/society/and work, there will be no regret! I said: 'continuous' as striving for 'perfection' is a journey with no destination. We will falter along the way but hopefully be able to get up and continue this eternal pursuit!

Singapore is facing a rapidly ageing population. Death will be among the aged and hopefully the aged will die with dignity and peace no matter how materialistic the society has become! The national leaders will take care of this challenge as they too are on the aged list!