After reading "On the Shortness of Life," it has become apparent to me how little time there is for each of us to live on the earth. As I wrote in my last post, we would probably live our lives differently if we knew exactly how long we would live, but, of course, no one knows that information. For the young person, we think we have unlimited time to live our lives. We think there is 50+ years left for us to live, and that is plenty of time to goof off and have fun.

Time is an idea that many people do not seem to take seriously. It is the one possession of ours that cannot ever be regained once lost, yet we waste many hours every day on tasks that do not matter in the long run. We can all think of a person in our life that we would spend a few hours with, but we would not give this person any of our money. Money can be replenished; time cannot. Many of us go about our days and think that we will never run out of time to spend, but the complication is that none of us knows exactly how much time we have. Money can be counted; time cannot.

One day, when we are presented with the real prospect of our death, how will we view the way we spent our time? There are many parents who devote so much of their time to making money at their job that they miss their children’s early years. After they are grown and leave the house, these parents will wonder how that happened so fast. The parents will most likely have a large bank account, but they will have missed the most important thing—watching their children growing up. I know that my father told me that he decided a long time ago that he would not forsake spending time with me to advance his professional career. We hear many people say that parents should spend “quality time” with their children, but my father has a different view. He said that “quality time” was not as important as “quantity time.” If we are given the chance to look back at our life at an old age, what will be our greatest regret? Will we wish that we spent more time on our job, or more time with our family?

As I said, I believe that time is the most valuable possession that any of us have. Some people put a monetary value on their time and give it away grudgingly (“Son, I want you to know this hour I am spending with you is costing me $75.”), but others realize that their time is the most precious gift they can give. Because we never know how much time we have left, that hour we spend with out son out on the lake could be our last hour. I know that when I look back on my childhood, I will value how much time I spent with my father and the love that we have, and I will care much less about how much money we had.

Life would be very different if everyone knew exactly how long he or she would live. People would, no doubt, make many different decisions regarding their hobbies, family, and career. Assuming the life expectancy holds steady at 80 years of age (if it were to decrease, a person’s life would not change much. He would simply get married earlier, enter the workforce earlier, and retire earlier), a person’s life decisions would be influences by the prospect of a shortened life. If a person knew he would only live to be 20 years old, well, he might decide to not finish high school and instead focus on having fun with his remaining years. If a person knew he would die at 40 years, he may choose not to purchase life insurance and not put any money toward a retirement account. Of course, no one knows at what age he will die, so his discussion has no real merit.

There is a certain group of people who believe the world will end in 2012. They are so certain of this belief that they quit work when they had enough money to survive the next few years in preparation for a catastrophe. They stockpile food and rations in makeshift underground shelters in preparation for a global disaster. These people had better hope they are right, because if they are not, they set themselves up for a tough time in 2013.

These people are some of the only who actually life their lives with a definite time frame. They know exactly what they want to do for the next 3 years they believe they will be alive. They do not value work anymore and focus on gathering enough supplies to survive. Of course, this is not the topic that was assigned, but it does offer some insight into how people live when they believe they will not live much longer.

No one knows for sure exactly how long he or she will live. There are people who think they will die young or the world will end; consequently, they spend all they money by living in the moment and have no money in a savings account for use later in life. They must continue to work into their old age in order to support themselves. There are other people who spend their whole lives pouring themselves into their work or building a business from the ground up. They wait for the day when they can retire, sell their business for a huge profit, and relax while living in luxury. However, that individual could easily die in his 40’s from an accident or an unexpected illness. Twenty years of hard work produced no benefit for that person. He was waiting for a payout that never happened.

Maybe the lesson to take away from this is to plan our career with some sort of moderation. I cannot say that my career choice would be much different if I were to live to be only 40 or 50. I would possibly put less into my savings and retirement account and spend more money on luxury items. I would maybe be more apt to take riskier investments because I would know there is not much time for safe, small returns. However, my career choice would probably be much the same as it is now.