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.