Don't save it for the funeral.

Don't save it for the funeral.

BUSINESS MATTERS (BEYOND THE BOTTOM LINE) By Francis J. Kong
Philippine Star, Sunday, September 2, 2007

An elderly man lay dying in his bed. In death's agony, he suddenly
smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies wafting up
the stairs. He had lived a simple life. He had not asked for much. But
if there is one thing he had always wanted it is his favorite
chocolate chip cookies.

He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed.
Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom,
and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping
the railing with both hands.

With labored breath, he leaned against the doorframe, gazing into the
kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself
already in heaven: There, spread out on the kitchen table, were
literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.
"No…no…no…this could not be heaven or was it heaven?" the old man
thought to himself. Or was it merely one final act of heroic love from
his devoted wife seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?

Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table.
His aged and withered hand made its way to a cookie at the edge of the
table, when his wife suddenly smacked it with a spatula.

"Stay out of those," she said. "They're for the funeral."

The question is, "Why save the good for the funeral when it should
have been shared and enjoyed beforehand by the living?" Isn't it a
shame that flowers are given when they could no longer be seen and
words are said when they can no longer be heard.

• "What a wonderful friend she was."

• "He meant so much to me."

• "He was a good man…"

And then some comments reflect the realization that when we had our
chance, we never express our feelings adequately to those we love
while they were alive.

• "I never got the chance to tell him how much I appreciated what he
had done for me."

• "I hope she realizes how much I love her."

The good things you want to do and the good words you want to say,
don't save it for the funeral. Do it and say it now.

I learn so many important life lessons every time I go to a funeral.

Parties? Well, I enjoy them too but the reality is that there is not
so much to learn. So given a choice I would rather attend a funeral
than a party and learn more things about live and living.

And while we are on the subject matter, do not save the best for last.
It does not make sense.

We keep our best china waiting for those special guests to come when
the most special people are with us every day of our lives. We store
our favorite watch wanting to wear it on that special occasion and we
fail to realize that the best time of our life does not belong to the
past and neither is it in the future, it's in the here and now. We
stock and safety-vault the best of our jewelry planning to wear them
for that special occasion but all these does not make sense.

You do not save the best for last; you save the best for now. If your
best is not now then your life is not exactly fulfilling isn't it? You
never know when your best would be but you can always make today the
best it could be.

If someone means something special to you, don't save it for the
funeral. Share it with them now! And do yourself a favor. Bring out
those beautiful and expensive china, wear that expensive watch. Open
the safe vault and enjoy those things for after all they are just
things aren't they?

Here's the catch. Use them for the people you love. You want to be
your best for them.

Honor them by being making the here and now the best moment of your
life and share it with your loved ones.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Work like you don't need
money, Love like you've never been hurt, And dance like no one's
watching. Live today as if there's no more tomorrow not in a spirit of
carefree abandon or recklessness but in celebration of life as a gift
from the Author of Life.

So spend today wisely and cheerfully.

Have a nice day

lovely post...thanx for sharing

It is true, Sravanthi.
we keep things for future use and when that time has come, the things we saved may not be of interest to us or the things might not be useful as we thought it to be. or otherwise the that time won't even come.
Same with the people we live with. There is no use of feeling guilty afterwards, if you have the time to say or do something to make the other person feel better.
Nice thought provoking article!
sriniketan

hi sravanthi,

Real whack on the head for lot of people....good one........We always tend to do that....here i will quote my fil....he is used to talking about the time he leaves for his heavenly abode...he asked me one day...what will you do when i die..will you cry, will you put a good garland....i got so wild i retorted..."Just enjoy what i am doing for you today ...It is more important that i feed you when you are alive than to putting food in front of crows thinking of you............."

live each day as though it is the last sums it all up.
Especially true for appreciating what others do for you, tomorrow might never come.

an excellent post sravanthi

Many people do not enjoy what they have .They save and save.I do not say that we should not save,but atleast enjoy what ever you can.They spend all the time in saving finally when it comes to enjoy the fruit of it they are already gone.......

Excellent post sravanthi. I did read this a few years back and atarted thinking about it and changed a lot of ways. we use all the good china everyday and i dont get angry if we accidently chip something. we use all the good clothes and any other item we bought in our everyday use. i also share what i have with others now so it is of use to someone. thanks for writing.

very nice post shravanthi,
and the saying in hindi is marnewalo ko khush rakhkey jeeney walonko bebass chode..meaning we please he dead but forget who is living and very much near to us...sunkan

Really Good ones.

Hi Sravanthi,

I feel that you have written for me. I liked your last paragraph very much.
My hubby keeps saying the same thing, live this moment, dont keep worrying about the future and thinking about the past. I dont know why iam like this.

As the others said, it is correct, we may have something for special occasion but we will really bcom old to wear those.

It's a really good one. But one thing, i tell everyone in my family, lets eat whatever we like, dont force anyone to eat anything particular. Bcos we are not sure in the future what is in hold for us and may be we will get some disease which will not allow us to eat what we like. So lets enjoy eating now.