Respect for Life

The older I grow...let me re-phrase that...the more mature I become, the more respect I have for life. Perhaps it is because I now have more knowledge of life and its wonders. More so because I've reached the age of what I think is more than half of my life years. I don't know if I'll reach the age of 60, 70, 0r 80. For sure, I'll never live to double my age today.

I've seen 3 generations replacing me. My generation having their own kids, our kids having their own kids, my generation getting old, the generation before me (our parents') being OLD-er, and the generation before them... now gone.

Young ones don't think about being gone. There isn't an inkling of any thought that life will someday stop. Right now it is the enjoyment and the going forward, which is a natural, healthy attitude.

I always say to those who care to listen: There is only one life. You may be given an extension of what you have now, but you cannot buy, borrow, steal, ask, be given, find, create another one to keep you going.

I've known a long time ago that living things around me are not permanent fixtures. Sooner or later everything goes - back to being dust, becoming one again with the cosmic particles floating in this space we call universe. It's sad to see [and hear] about someone's life being snuff away at an any age because of carelessness, or misunderstanding, or fighting for reasons they believe is right. This does not apply to humans only. I believe that animal and plant beings also have the right to be here. The ant, the icky worm, the yucky housefly, the spider, the squirrel, the cayote searhing for food in urban backyards, they only have one life, some may live for years, others live for a day. If they don't bother you or hurt you in anyway, leave them be and let them fulfill what it is they were here for.

Respecting people's lives is not just letting them eat and breathe. It is also respecting their personal space, their work, their thoughts, their beliefs. Respecting life is being patient.

As I mature more, I'd like to have more patience and more understanding of the whys and hows of life around me.

Happy birthday to me!