Get MAD Before You Kick the Bucket

"Kicking the bucket" means death. Hence, the idiomatic expression "bucket list" is a list of things a person wants to do before passing away. All of us would kick our own buckets whether we like it or not at any given time. Janne Teller, a Danish essayist said "from the moment we are born, we begin to die." The timer is on. The clock is ticking. If you are in your forties you probably have about 13,000 days to live, on the average based on life's expectancy. If you are in your fifties, you have about 10,000 days to live. If you were in your seventies, you have about 3,000 days left. That is not much, is it? Life is short. It is a clich�. Life is short.

Man has always been on a quest for the elixir of life. Many movements and gurus advocate longevity either in the form of lifestyle, exercise, diet, or vitamins. No wonder, they have become multi-billion dollar businesses. Fitness centers populated the major cities in the world. Different diet fads emerged and each one claims to add more years. Those are clear indications that most people want to live longer. Jack Lalanne who was considered to be the godfather of modern fitness passed away at the ripe age of 96. Before he died, he expressed his frustrations because he wanted more. Aubrey de Grey, the long-bearded Harvard professor is a big proponent of longevity project. He theorizes that a man can reach 150 years or more by replacing parts of the body. For him, human body can be likened to a fixer-upper house.

There is completely nothing wrong about advocacy for longevity. We all want to live longer. But we should understand that humans are not meant to live forever in this world. We are designed to procreate and are given enough time to prepare the next generation. A mother would carry the child in her womb for about nine months, give birth, and take care of the child. When the child has his own family, his parents' health would begin to decline and then his parents eventually pass on. It is just the same from generation to generation. It is the cycle of life. That is our design. It is in our DNA. Hence, although there is nothing wrong about longevity, what is more important is legacy. When we talk of legacy, it does not necessarily mean money or property that we bequeath our children. There is more in legacy than just currency. The truth is, according to Dave Ramsey, a financial guru, leaving large amount of money to untrained children is not for their best interest.

How can we leave a legacy? Martin Luther King, Jr., said it is not how long you lived but how well you do it. Seneca, a first century Stoic philosopher said that life is long enough; we just do not know how to use it. We should therefore know how to use life. In Leo Tolstoy's novel, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, a dying man on his deathbed asked a poignant question: What if my life has all been wrong?

Look at the life of Jesus, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Steve Jobs, and many more to mention. Not one of them became a centenarian. Nevertheless, they all lived a life worth living because they made a difference. We do not have to be as famous as them, but we can also make a difference in our own little world. Death is inevitable, but making a difference in the world, in our community, in our family, and in our environment is a choice we can make. Get MAD (Make a Difference) before you kick the bucket. Leave a legacy.

We are not meant to live forever in this world. Instead we are designed to procreate and prepare the next generation. Hence, legacy is more important than longevity. Let us all make a difference in the world, in our community,and in our environment for the sake of the generations to come.





By Louie Cayabyab



Article Source: Get MAD Before You Kick the Bucket