If you had another year to live you would make up with all those people with whom you quarreled. You would make up with relatives with whom you fought, call and apologize to those you have hurt and speak with friends to whom you have not spoken because of some dispute that no one really remembers.
Past arguments would seem pointless, if you had one more year to live. Meaningless. Your heart would fill with sadness about lost friendships, about the great times you missed with people you cherish and you would try to get closer to those people who have drifted away.
If you had one more year to live you would choose one fabulous place you have never visited, drop everything and go see it. A place you have always wanted to be, even for a moment, to feel it, sense it, breath it’s fragrance into your lungs. A calm place that helps you see things in the proper light, everything, even the last year left to you. If you had another year to live, you would initiate a visit to a place that brings you happiness.
If you had one more year to live, you would tell your loved ones how much you love them. You would not hold back. You would not wait until tomorrow. You would tell them in detail and immediately how much they mean to you, how much you appreciate them and want only what is good for them.
The obstacles that exist, the ones that keep you from expressing your feelings of love would crumble if you had one more year to live. Your loved ones and all those you have cared for would get to hear you tell them how much you care for them and they would return the love twofold.
If you had one more year to live you would watch less television. You would continue to watch only those programs you truly enjoy. There would be no more passive staring at the screen, watching for the sake of watching just because it’s there. If you had another year to live, only the best television productions would interest you. The rest of the time you would devote to yourself.
If you had another year to live, you would drive to the ocean at least once a month. You would watch the waves lap onto the shore, see the water’s power and to watch the sunset on the far horizon. If you had another year to live you would allow yourself this easily accessible experience, fulfilling and pure, almost free and requiring very little effort. It’s there waiting for us to come and watch, come and be moved.
If you had another year to live you would only do what you wanted. You would get out of unhealthy relationships. You would leave your job with the unappreciative employer. You would stop going to places that cause you unhappiness. You would cease acting out of duty and submission to leaders you don’t support or respect. If you had one more year to live you would know how to separate the wheat from the chaff in order to find the things that truly make you happy.
If you had one more year to live you would look for something really special to do, something authentic. You would understand there is no more time for fraud, no more time to be two-faced and you would look for those experiences that would thrill you, make you feel truly good.
A nighttime excursion, a visit to places from your childhood, meetings with people who influenced your life. If you had another year you would live it to the fullest filling it with meaningful events. The years go by and we do nothing important but if you had another year, you would not wait until tomorrow. You would get busy right now with what is important to you, what fills your heart with joy.
If you had one more year to live you would finally do that writing you always wanted; a story, a poem or a love letter. We go through life without writing down the poem we have in our heads, without making up an imaginary story based on a dream we had, without painting a picture.
We go through an entire life without writing, out of fear of what others will say. But, if you had one more year to live you would take your hands out of your pockets and your notebooks out of the drawer and begin to write, without worrying about what others will say, without embarrassment. Just write.
If you had another year to live, you would do a good deed, something noble, something that would leave your signature on it. We spend our lives thinking about ourselves most of the time.
Its understandable and part of survival but you had only one more year to live you would do at least one good deed for someone else, something meaningful which would help or make someone dear to you happy, something they would remember, something that would also give you a wonderful gift of compassion: The sense you did something meaningful for someone else.
If you had another year to live you would turn it into a magic year, special and meaningful. If you had another year to live you would only do those things important to you. You would make up with people, use your time wisely, not let small things upset you. If you had another year to live you would try to make yourself happier. Act therefore as if you have another year to live.
Pesach is coming and with it the usual newspaper photos of haredi guys dipping dishes. I wanted to ask young Mr. Daum, why is it that this year like, every year you guys publish photos of some haredi Orthodox guy who weighs like 500 pounds? Isn’t there anyone else to photograph? Can’t you once go with a picture of a young regular haredi guy dipping dishes?
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