Doug's Blog
Reflection on a Half Life
Today is Monday, October 27th and I am official 36 years and one day old. According to Stats Canada I am pretty well half way through my life if I live to be the average age. It seems the majority of the population is generally afraid of getting older, but as I reflect on it, it seems to me that the best is yet to come.
I have passed all of the awkward phases in juniour high and high school and passed through two university degrees, discovering myself along the way. I have a job that gives me purpose and meaning in my life, a lot of friends and family that love me, a beautiful family and a lot to look forward to. It has been revealled in surveys the majority of people say that their forties is the decade in which they have the most fun and the fifties is the decade in which they make the most money. The sixties is when you get to relax a bit, travel, and enjoy grandchildren, and the seventies is when you still get to do most things you did in your sixties, but you get to reflect a little more on what you have accomplished, and get respected for your wisdom. How can the first 36 years have been better than the next 36 . . . I just don't see how.
Even if I don't get 36 more years, I have lived one of the greatest lives that anyone has in the world (and so have you). No, I don't mean that I am great, I mean that I have lived a great life. I have grown up in a nation almost free of desease, with clean drinking water and lots to eat. I never had to worry about being shot or knifed or blown up on my way to the playground, and . . . hell, we had a playground to go to. I got a great education, great healthcare, warm clothes, and a world of opportunity laid before me if only I was willing to work a little bit for it.
I guess my point is that not only have I lived better than most of the rest of the world, we all have in this Province, but also that I live in a nation where the average life expectancy is twice my age, while half of the rest of the world has a life expectancy that I have already passed. In some circumstance people will argue that what is important is quality over quantity, while others would argue it is quantity over quality. In this case, when you get double the quantity and exponentially more quality, a little appreciation is in order.
For those of you who asked, I am not sad about my age, I am glad for another year of glorious opportunities to pursue. I will take full advantage of each and every one of them.
