Saturday, April 01, 2006

Your old age could be torture for you

The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped.
- Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)

The chances of your being run over by a bus or of dying of some disease are low compared to the chances of your living to a ripe old age. That is, in all likelihood, you will have to live 24 hours of every day as an old person.

If that seems a long way off to you now, speak to someone who is a senior citizen and ask how quickly it goes. It speeds by, just as the hours of your day go quickly as you rush through your life today.

That leaves you, in your senior years, with far less to do and far more time to think, time to review your life. This is the time for self torture for those whose lives were misspent, filled with misdeeds, deceit and poorly chosen time choices.

This is NOT the time of life you want to spend suffering because you realize how wrong you were. This is NOT the time you want to say so often "If only..."

There is no "If only..." for those who live as if they will have to look back on their lives as elderly people and use their time accordingly now.

Live today as if you don't want to suffer regrets later. Those regrets are painful.

Maybe no one has told you that before. Regrets in old age are more painful than cancer. You suffer every day, every night. You ache for lost time, lost opportunities, lost friendships, lost loves, lost chances to help others out of the troughs of difficulties, lost possibilities to improve your wisdom, your health, what makes you the being you are or could be.

Today is your investment in your own future.

In old age, money is nice, but it brings absolutely no peace of mind. You can't buy that.

You have to earn peace of mind. Invest your life well.

Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' striving to help everyone to invest their lives wisely.
Learn more at http://billallin.com/cgi/index.pl

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