It's a matter of life or death

Tikker Watch

Better said, it's a matter of life AND death.

This is the Tikker, a watch that tells you when you are going to die... maybe. And while I am not a fan, some are.

The theory is that knowing your approximation of death (it's based on averages, not counting accidents, illness or even your natural death), you will be more inclined to live a richer life making the best of your time remaining... or for some, a life of fear and trepidation, not unlike someone on death row, I suppose.

"Oh, we have to reschedule dinner with the Wilsons on Friday dear, I'm scheduled to die on Tuesday."

Bob Hope

Comedian Bob Hope had the best line on what happens after you-know-what. As he aged, he was asked where he would like to be buried. He replied, "I don't know. Surprise me." He lived to 100 and then I guess they had a surprise party. Maybe if he had a death watch, he would have been more ready.

Here's a better question: If you had a pretty good idea of your actual time frame--terminal illness, execution date, while drowning when your life supposedly flashes before you--would you do anything different?

Well, sure, if given that hypothetical question. I'd learn to swim, quit that hated job, not stuck my head through that hole in the fence, retire earlier, move to Toledo, etc. But that would probably be the wrong answer in many cases, because each action has a reaction and then you have a new set of "..what-ifs."

None-the-less, it's an interesting enough mind game to play. So here's my take"

Shirley MacLaine

Life is a one-time shot (not counting Shirley MacLaine who claimed many past lives, including, as one story says, a love affair with the prime minister of Sweden many years ago in which she felt as if she had known him before. Then it came to her. They last had sex 1,200 years earlier when he had been Charlemagne the Great, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire and she had been a Moorish peasant girl with a knack for curing impotence in men.

And, also a number of others remembering in a hypnotic trance, of reincarnation in which vivid past life memories are revealed. But that's not most of us--or any of us--for sure.

My take is, no matter how great that watch, no one knows if he/she will get hit by a car, shot by an intruder or have a safe fall on them. Going back to square one then, be the best person you can be in every moment of life's blessings you have... for tomorrow, you may be dead, even if the watch says you have 25 more years.

I wonder then, could get your money back?

And truly, is there a better incentive to live each day as if it might be your last? One never knows how important that might be "on the other side." (ed. note: Most of us do have a belief--Christian, Jewish  or otherwise--of an other side, but is there anything to lose by being richly human in a Golden Rule way, just in case? It's win-win)

It's never too late to be better, kinder, more understanding and empathetic because there is always someone who may vitally need a smile or more. If we think death is ominous, just think how hard life can be. Hope, in its broadest interpretation, is its own richness. 

WOW... I just saved $1,7820,200 million this month... but I don't feel that much richer

 
Well, call me a tycoon or not, but in the blink of an eye, I saved $17.4 million. Yep, my bid to buy Three Studies of Isabel Rawsthorne, a triptych by artist Francis Bacon at auction by Sotheby's was just a little late. This semi-splendid piece went to some other sharp eyed art patron for that price.

In retrospect, I'm glad. It's a little too "mauvey" for my taste... and if my eyes don't deceive me, I think the artist's brush slipped a few times and he colored outside the lines.

Actually, fine art is in the eye of the beholder, so I guess, I beholden my money this time. Whew! That was a close one.

I also saved $420,000 by not buying Bolt, Europe's fastest pigeon, named after Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man. Racing pigeons do, it seems, bring big bucks. When the seller was notified how much Bolt sold for, he said "I am absolutely gobsmacked."

And if that isn't enough, my wife went clothes shopping this week and, as she brought her packages in from the car, she told me that she had saved $200. I am even more gobsmacked to think that in a week where my total saving was $17,820,200, I still can't find an extra $20 to reload my Starbucks card.

Us rich have it tough.

On another very different matter, congratulations to Texas on its 500th execution. The 'ittsy-bittsy'
downside (not counting the condemned)--now it has to buy more of those big, foam "We're No. 1" fingers.

By the way, only Texas and California record all the last words any of their executed speak. They range from "I'm sorry" to "I'm innocent" with a few "Go Cowboys" thrown in... really.

Sorry... I don't mean to sound coarse of flippant but I just feel execution is a barbaric way to say "Gotcha!" It is much more costly--appeals and all--than any life sentence. It is unfairly and unevenly administered and does send some innocent to their deaths. And as much as we sometimes feel it is emotionally justified in horrendous incidents, it makes no one a better human being.